United States v. Salwan Wesam Adjaj

Case summary

A former Oregon dentist was sentenced to federal prison for attempting to steal more than $170 million in COVID-relief funds and illegally distributing thousands of doses of prescription drugs. Salwan Wesam Adjaj, 44, of West Linn, Oregon, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $10.5 million in restitution to the SBA and multiple private lenders.¹

According to court documents, beginning no later than September 2020 and continuing until at least May 2021, Adjaj submitted dozens of fraudulent applications to the SBA seeking Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program funds. The applications used the names and employer identification numbers of fictitious business entities, false business start dates, employee counts, locations, and applicant identities. Most fraudulent applications were filed in other people's names but listed Adjaj's own residence as the business mailing address. In spring 2021, he purchased a collection of stolen identities online and used the personal information to register dozens of straw companies and obtain additional EINs. After the SBA rejected most of his EIDL applications, he shifted focus to the PPP program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. In May 2021 he submitted three RRF applications for restaurants supposedly located in Sarasota, Miami, and Daytona Beach, again all listing his own residence as the mailing address.¹

In total, Adjaj submitted more than 100 fraudulent COVID-relief applications, stole the identities of more than 40 victims, and caused the SBA to pay out more than $11.5 million in loans, grants, and associated lender fees. He used the stolen funds to speculate in stocks and cryptocurrencies and, according to the sentencing announcement, kept doing so even after his arrest and what it called his "purported cooperation" with the government.¹

Separately, for at least four years before the pandemic fraud, Adjaj knowingly distributed and possessed with intent to distribute thousands of doses of prescription drugs. In August 2020, DEA and Clackamas County Sheriff's Office investigators searching his dental practice and home found Schedule III and IV controlled substances including Tramadol, anabolic steroids, injectable testosterone, Phendimetrazine, Diazepam, Xanax, Lorazepam, Soma, and Zolpidem. Further investigation by the DEA and the Oregon Board of Dentistry found that Adjaj used his position as a dentist and his DEA registration numbers to obtain some drugs from a pharmaceutical manufacturer. The investigation also found he obtained steroids and human growth hormone from the dark web, and distributed all of it without a legitimate medical purpose. Shortly after the search, the Oregon Board of Dentistry issued an emergency order suspending his dental license.¹

Adjaj was charged by criminal complaint on October 14, 2021 with aggravated identity theft and wire fraud, and indicted on the same charges by a federal grand jury on July 13, 2022. Separately, he was charged by information on June 23, 2022 with drug distribution, and pleaded guilty to that charge three weeks later. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on September 13, 2022. His fraud case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the SBA Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the U.S. Secret Service, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan W. Bounds. His drug case was investigated by the DEA, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, and the Oregon Board of Dentistry, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter D. Sax.¹

Notes

1. U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, "Former Oregon Dentist Sentenced to Federal Prison for Stealing Millions in Covid-Relief Funds and Illegally Distributing Controlled Substances" (original), February 16, 2023. ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃ ↩₄ ↩₅

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.