Former Microsoft, Amazon exec sentenced for $5.5 million in PPP fraud

A former executive at Amazon and Microsoft is facing two years in prison after filing for roughly $5.5 million in payroll protection plan loans for businesses that don’t exist.

Mukund Mohan, who claims to be a former director of engineering at Microsoft and director of product management for Amazon, pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud and money laundering. He submitted eight applications for PPP loans to support five startups. Five of those were ultimately approved, netting him $1.8 million.

The forms were backed up with falsified tax forms and statements showing he employed dozens of people. He did not. And the government quickly figured that out.

Mohan reportedly fainted when federal agents knocked on his door. He asked for a lighter sentence, saying he had spent only $16,500 of the funds. On his Twitter account, he has changed his bio to read, “I am (likely) the world’s most stupid person.”

In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to repay the $1.8 million as well as a $100,000 fine.

“When individuals like Mr. Mohan abuse the benefit programs under the CARES Act to unjustly enrich themselves, they are stealing from those that are the most vulnerable,” said acting special agent in charge Corinne Kalve of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS:CI). “Today Mr. Mohan is being held accountable for the harm his greed has caused our friends, our families, and our communities.”

Mohan is hardly the only person who obtained PPP funds fraudulently. A Texas man spent nearly $1 million on cryptocurrency, and a Florida resident used the money to buy a Lamborghini.