Nevada man convicted of $11 million worth of COVID fraud

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KOLO) – A Nevada man has been convicted of defrauding three banks of more than $11 million worth of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

30-year-old Meelad Dezfooli of Henderson was convicted of engaging in a scheme to submit fraudulent loan applications under the PPP.

The court found that Dezfooli submitted three fraudulent PPP loan applications to federally insured banks, supposedly to benefit companies he controlled. Evidence showed that Dezfooli falsely represented certain material information in those applications, including information about payroll, employees, and use of loan proceeds.

After obtaining the $11.2 million, Dezfooli then laundered and/or spent the money by doing things like buying around 25 residences and two luxury cars, funding a personal investment account, and gambling extensively. The DOJ says after being originally charged, Dezfooli continued to launder criminal proceeds by selling five of the twenty-five residences.

Dezfooli was convicted of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of money laundering, and four counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property.

He will be sentenced on Dec. 5 and faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on each of the bank fraud counts, 20 years for each of the money laundering counts, and 10 years for each of the counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property.

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