Richmond, Virginia – A New York man who used his tax preparation business to defraud a federal pandemic relief program has been sentenced to prison for falsifying hundreds of loan applications on behalf of clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Baltej Singh Brar, 42, of South Richmond Hill, New York, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for submitting false statements through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), causing significant losses to the U.S. government.
A Scheme Built on Pandemic Desperation
Brar, who owned and operated Aspire Tax & Accounting Services Inc., was a registered tax preparer with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In 2021, during the height of the pandemic, Brar used his firm to prepare and file PPP loan applications on behalf of numerous clients, many of whom were sole proprietors such as taxi drivers, truck drivers, and construction workers…