A Gaithersburg, Maryland, accountant has been sentenced to three years in federal prison, followed by six months of home confinement, for conspiring to commit wire fraud by submitting fraudulent loan applications for various COVID-19 relief benefits.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland, 54-year-old Harold Dotson was part of the scheme that filed more than $24 million in phony CARES Act loan applications between 2020 and 2022. He was sentenced earlier this week by U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett
During the pandemic, several economic assistance mechanisms were established to keep businesses afloat: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the Paycheck Protection Program, and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
Citing Dotson’s plea agreement and other court documents, prosecutors said Dotson “used his accountant expertise to assist with preparing numerous false and fraudulent EIDL and PPP applications for purported businesses that did not exist in any legitimate capacity.”
The duplicitous loan applications included false information about the fake businesses’ number of employees, monthly payroll costs and revenue. Prosecutors said he also routinely created fraudulent IRS tax forms.
In his sentencing memo, Dotson’s lawyer said his client was an addicted gambler, with his family on the brink of economic disaster, when he was approached by co-conspirator Ahmed Sary, 47, of Brooklyn, Maryland, who ran a credit repair company.
