Profiles · Fraud defendants
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Defendant
- Updated
The profile
The youngest of six Houston-area men sentenced together in February 2024 in the Amir Aqeel PPP ring: 18 months in prison and $491,664 in restitution, owed jointly with four co-defendants.
Identity and role
Arham Uddin, 27 at sentencing, of Richmond, Texas, was charged in United States v. Aqeel, No. 4:20-cr-00583 (S.D. Tex.), by a one-count criminal information filed September 12, 2023, the same day as Ammas Uddin, Harjeet Singh, Muhammad Anis and Nishant Patel. The case against Amir Aqeel had been indicted in November 2020.
The scheme and pandemic-relief role
The Justice Department says the Aqeel ring obtained more than $20 million in forgivable PPP loans between April and November 2020 by overstating employee counts and average monthly payroll, backed by fake bank records and federal tax forms. Proceeds went out as checks to fake employees and were cashed at check-cashing businesses, one of them owned by a co-conspirator.
According to the department's February 2024 release, Uddin and the five men sentenced with him supplied information about their businesses so that false loan applications could be filed. The court made him jointly liable for $491,664 with Aqeel, Mauricio Navia, Hamza Abbas and Khalid Abbas. Khalid Abbas's own sentence, imposed in October 2023, included a separate $491,664 owed jointly with Arham Uddin.
Legal status / controversies
- Charged: criminal information (one count), September 12, 2023; initial appearance and arraignment September 25, 2023, before Magistrate Judge Yvonne Y. Ho.
- Pleaded guilty: October 2, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, under a plea agreement; money judgment entered the same day (Doc. 610).
- Sentenced: February 12, 2024, to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $491,664 in restitution to the SBA (judgment entered February 14, 2024, Doc. 800).
Where they are now (2025–2026)
The court allowed him to report to the Bureau of Prisons on his own. We found no public record of him after the February 2024 judgment.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney's Office, S.D. Tex., "Six sentenced for roles in $20M COVID-19 relief fraud ring" (Feb. 12, 2024) — original: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/six-sentenced-roles-20m-covid-19-relief-fraud-ring
- FDIC OIG, "Six Men Sentenced for Roles in $20M COVID-19 Relief Fraud Ring" (Feb. 12, 2024) — original: https://fdicoig.gov/news/investigations-press-releases/six-men-sentenced-roles-20m-covid-19-relief-fraud-ring local copy
- Docket entries, United States v. Aqeel, No. 4:20-cr-00583 (S.D. Tex.), Sept. 12, 2023 to Sept. 24, 2023 — original: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18643734/united-states-v-aqeel/?filed_after=09%2F12%2F2023&filed_before=09%2F24%2F2023
- Docket entries, United States v. Aqeel, No. 4:20-cr-00583 (S.D. Tex.), Sept. 25, 2023 to Oct. 3, 2023 — original: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18643734/united-states-v-aqeel/?filed_after=09%2F25%2F2023&filed_before=10%2F03%2F2023
- Docket entries, United States v. Aqeel, No. 4:20-cr-00583 (S.D. Tex.), Jan. 4, 2024 to Feb. 27, 2024 — original: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18643734/united-states-v-aqeel/?filed_after=01%2F04%2F2024&filed_before=02%2F27%2F2024
- Related profile: Amir Aqeel
- Related profile: Hamza Abbas