July 2, 2025
Rahul Shah, 56, of Evanston, Illinois, is facing decades in federal prison after being convicted for orchestrating a multi-million-dollar bank fraud and COVID-19 relief scam in which he defrauded financial institutions out of more than $55 million in commercial loans and PPP funds.
Shah operated several information technology companies in the Chicago area and submitted fake documents to secure the funds.
According to prosecutors, Shah falsified bank records, inflated revenues on financial statements, and forged audit reports to deceive federally insured lenders. He defaulted on several of the loans, leaving taxpayers on the hook.
The fraud didn’t stop there. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shah filed bogus applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans—falsely inflating payroll figures and submitting counterfeit IRS forms. Authorities say he also used stolen identities and tax information to qualify for pandemic aid, a tactic that earned him additional charges for aggravated identity theft.
The evidence showed that the payroll numbers submitted to lenders were drastically higher than those reported to federal and state tax agencies. Investigators also found that the IRS forms Shah submitted had been doctored to mislead banks about his companies’ eligibility for SBA-backed loans.
The jury returned a conviction on 16 counts, including:
- 7 counts of bank fraud
- 5 counts of making false statements to financial institutions
- 2 counts of money laundering
- 2 counts of aggravated identity theft
Shah is set to be sentenced on November 13, and he faces up to:
- 30 years for each bank fraud and false statement count
- 10 years for each money laundering count
- 2 years for each aggravated identity theft count
The case was investigated by the FBI Chicago Field Office and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG). It was prosecuted by the DOJ’s Criminal Division Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
This conviction adds to a growing list of pandemic-related prosecutions. Since the CARES Act was passed, the DOJ has recovered more than $78 million in stolen PPP funds.
Know something?
If you have firsthand knowledge about PPP fraud or government contracting abuse, Find Corporate Waste encourages you to come forward. You can report potential COVID-19 fraud directly to the National Center for Disaster Fraud.
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