Ballston Lake couple sentenced for PPP loan fraud

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Deborah Budhraj, 52, and Adesh Budhraj, 54, both of Ballston Lake have received a sentence to time served as well as two years of probation for conspiring to defraud loan programs for struggling businesses during the pandemic, per the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). They pleaded guilty in July and were sentenced on Wednesday.

The DOJ said the Budhraj couple owned a business in Schenectady that they sold to another couple in February 2020. The Budhraj couple applied for two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan for the business, claiming they still owned it between April 2020 and June 2021.

The loans received totaled $588,514. Deborah also fraudulently obtained forgiveness of the two PPP loans by falsely certifying that the money was spent in accordance with PPP rules, including on payroll.

The couple was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine each and to pay the $588,514 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration. The restitution was paid before sentencing. The DOJ did not specify the amount of time they were sentenced to serve.