Maple Grove man sentenced to 5 years for Paycheck Protection fraud

Today acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Charles Kovats announced that a Maple Grove man has been sentenced to 60 months in prison for fraudulently applying for and misappropriating COVID-19 relief funds.

Court documents state that 47-year-old Aditya Raj Sharma created three companies between May and June of 2020 and fraudulently applied for 16 loans totaling over $9.5 million through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Sharma applied for one of the loans in his wife’s name without her knowledge, documents show.

He received a total of $1,773,600 and used the funds to build a $64,000 pool in the backyard of his residence among other expenditures.

Sharma had $674,980 seized from bank accounts he controlled and has been ordered to pay the full amount of $1.7 million in restitution.

This case came as a result of the COVID-19 Fraud Engagement Task Force which was established in May 2021 to combat pandemic-related fraud across the country.