The jurisdiction of Maryland within the United States Attorney’s Office, in a press release, has indicated that the aforementioned influencer has attempted to engage in fraudulent activities aimed at deceiving both lending institutions and the United States government amounting to $1.2 million worth of COVID-19 relief loans.
Danny Devan became a well-known figure on TikTok by sharing content about investing in cryptocurrency and stocks, eventually amassing a large following of 26,000 people before his arrest.Business Insider reported that at the peak of his influence, Sahadevan accumulated a following of more than 630,000 people.
At the start of the pandemic, the United States was impacted, the CARES Act was implemented by the government to offer economic aid to individuals who have been adversely impacted by COVID-19 measures. Devan utilized both Paycheck Protection Programs (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) in his financial endeavors, as cited by the U.S prosecutors.
Starting in March 2020, Devan purportedly generated fabricated tax documents and bank statements and subsequently proceeded to file applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) via multiple business entities based in the state of Maryland that were under his control. According to the prosecutors, the defendant utilized confidential data belonging to an associate, without the requisite permission, in order to authenticate specific documents.
According to official sources, Sahadevan made requests for approximately 71 loans under the PPP loans with a cumulative value of $941,000. The individual eventually acquired a sum of $146,000 in PPP benefits. Moreover, the individual made applications for eight Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) and proficiently secured a total of $238,000 through them.
According to the prosecutors, the 31-year-old endeavored to launder government funds through engaging in securities and cryptocurrency trading. In doing so, he sought to settle his personal debts and proceeded to transfer a portion of the funds to his girlfriend.
The said person, whose popularity rose from social media, secured a loan worth $1.3 million, while failing to disclose an outstanding liability worth $283,000 derived from Emergency Injury Disaster Loan benefits. This sum was subsequently utilized towards the acquisition of a luxurious estate featuring six distinctive bedrooms, located in the locality of Potomac, Maryland.
The sequence of events culminated on February 24th, 2023, with a police intervention at his place of residence located in Potomac. The aforementioned discovery was made by the authorities, indicating that Devan was in possession of a total of 18 individual driver’s licenses that belonged to other individuals, in addition to a sum of $17,000 in cash. Prosecutors described it as a “gold physical Bitcoin in a black case.” Accordingly, law enforcement officials proceeded to confiscate the aforementioned items.
The verdict for Sahadevan is yet to be announced in Maryland. He could potentially be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison for committing wire fraud, up to 10 years for money laundering, and must serve at least two years for aggravated identity theft.
Sahadevan has agreed to surrender both the Bitcoin and cash he possessed, as well as make restitution payments totaling $429,000, as outlined in his plea agreement.
