Overview

• A Nevada defendant, Meelad Dezfooli, received more than 15 years in prison for obtaining over $11 million in fraudulent PPP loans and laundering the proceeds through real estate, gambling, and luxury purchases.
• He was ordered to pay $11,793,064.15 in restitution, forfeit $11,231,186.52, and surrender two vehicles and five properties after a 2024 jury conviction on bank fraud and money laundering counts.
• In Illinois, Christopher Scott of Hazel Crest was sentenced to five years and ten months and ordered to pay $567,333 in restitution for securing more than $550,000 through false PPP and EIDL applications and spending the money at luxury retailers.
• In California, Emanuel Tucker pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the SBA of $15.9 million via dozens of sham PPP and EIDL applications, using the funds for high-end cars, multiple homes, and expensive jewelry; sentencing is set for Dec. 4.
• The cases were investigated by teams from IRS-CI, FBI, SBA-OIG, FDIC-OIG, the Federal Reserve OIG, the Secret Service, and other partners, as DOJ reports prosecuting over 200 defendants and seizing more than $78 million tied to PPP/EIDL fraud.