Ex-Microsoft executive Mukund Mohan arrested in US, charged with $5.5m fraud

Industrialist Mukund Mohan, on July 25, was arrested for committing fraud under the US government’s PPP scheme. Mohan, who studied computers in Mysore University, gained fame after he was appointed the director of engineering at Microsoft in the US. He later turned into an entrepreneur.

Applied for more than $5.5 million

According to reports, Mohan is charged with fraudulently applying for more than $5.5 million in relief funds. The prosecutors have alleged that he had applied for eight loans for six of his companies under the US Paycheck Protection Programme which aims at aiding businesses amid the pandemic.

These loans are given to employers for retaining their workers and if used for the purpose, it could later be converted into grants with the employer no longer requiring to repay it. However, in Mohan’s case, it was found that he did not employ even a single person in those companies, and in fact, some of them did not even have a business. Mohan is currently employed as chief technology officer at BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc, a website that connects people with home contractors. Previously, he had worked for Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp.

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The United States Senate on June 30 passed legislation extending the deadline for businesses to apply for coronavirus aid under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), whose deadline was scheduled to lapse on June 30. The bill was reportedly passed unanimously extending the deadline of PPP to August 8. According to international media reports, there is $130 billion unspent money in the funds. 

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Highlighting that there is a need for another round of help to small businesses, Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on Senate Small Business Committee said that extension will delay the deadline until the Senate goes to its August recess. Commenting on the bill, he said that the resources and need, both are there, there was only the need to change the date.

Read: US Senate Extends Paycheck Protection Program Hours Before It Was Set To Expire

Image credits: InfoTechlead