A Henderson man was sentenced Thursday to over 15 years in prison for illegally obtaining and then laundering more than $11 million in COVID-19 relief money, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.
In September, a jury convicted Meelad Dezfooli, 31, of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of money laundering and four counts of conducting transactions using criminally derived property, after he fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program funds.
“This lengthy sentence shows how seriously the American government takes PPP loan fraud,” Carissa Messick, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Phoenix field office, said in a statement. “This loan program was created to support small businesses and their employees during a once in a lifetime pandemic. When Mr. Dezfooli fraudulently obtained these loans, he not only stole from the Small Business Administration, but also from American taxpayers to the tune of $11.2 million.”
Established by the 2020 CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection Program loaned about $800 billion to 11.5 million small businesses during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Ninety-two percent of the loans were forgiven, according to an NPR analysis.
After falsifying details of his loan applications for his Henderson flooring business, Best Buy Flooring, Dezfooli purchased about 25 homes and two luxury cars, funded a personal investment account and gambled extensively in Las Vegas, federal officials announced in September.
Dezfooli laundered the money using a fake name and fictitious business entity, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
A judge ordered Dezfooli to pay about $11.8 million in restitution and to forfeit about $11.2 million, two vehicles and five properties.
“Prosecuting schemes like this is critical to protecting the contributions of hard-working Americans, preserving confidence in government relief programs, and ensuring that aid reaches those who truly need it,” Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.
