Georgia attorney Sanjay Patel pleads guilty to loan fraud 

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Sanjay Patel, an attorney who formerly operated a Georgia-based real estate law firm, pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining nearly $300,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to using his attorney escrow account to launder more than $250,000 from unrelated investor fraud schemes.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan announced the guilty plea September 17, 2024.

Patel, 45, of Mobile, Alabama, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 12, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones.

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court, mentioned in the press release: Between August 2020 and March 2021, Patel submitted four fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) seeking at least $421,000 to purportedly operate his business, including his law practice, Worden & Associates.

In the fraudulent applications, Patel repeatedly misrepresented the number of employees his law firm employed, its gross revenues, and in at least one application, the existence of his business, the press release said. In reliance on Patel’s fraudulent misrepresentations, the SBA funded two of his loans totaling approximately $300,000.

After receiving the loan proceeds, Patel misused the funds for unauthorized purposes. EIDL loans are intended to be used for a business’s working capital to make regular payments for operating expenses, including payroll, rent/mortgage, utilities, and other ordinary business expenses, as well as to pay business debt incurred at any time, the press release said. Instead, authorities say, Patel spent the fraudulent EIDL loan proceeds he received on various things, including spending the funds at casinos, personal expenses, and to make payments toward non-business loans.

Separately, Patel used his Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) to launder the proceeds from various investment frauds, prosecutors said. For example, on May 14, 2020, Patel received $350,000 from an investor who believed the funds were going to be used for an energy project. But after receiving those funds, Patel immediately wired $250,000 to another entity, unrelated to the investment.

Similarly, in June 2020, Patel received another $350,000 as part of a different energy investment. After receiving this investor money, Patel laundered over $132,000 by conducting a series of wire transfers to other accounts unrelated to the investment.

Although Patel was not involved in the underlying fraudulent activity, he knew that these funds were derived from various investor fraud schemes, the press release from the US Attorney’s Office said.