Father and Son Brooklyn Contractors Indicted for Grand Larceny for Allegedly Defrauding Over $1 Million

Summary

A press release of the Brooklyn District Attorney, dated Thursday, September 5, 2024, announcing that contractors Nurus Safa and Maidul Safa were arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dena Douglas on a 19-count indictment. The indictment charges grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument and falsifying business records over Paycheck Protection Program loans to Rahil Contracting Inc. According to the investigation, the defendants obtained two PPP loans that totaled approximately $1,084,477.50 using fraudulent quarterly tax returns. The defendants are alleged to have spent $393,670 toward two homes in New Jersey and $71,000 as a down payment on a sports sedan. The defendants were released without bail and ordered to return to court on October 30, 2024.

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“Father and Son Brooklyn Contractors Indicted for Grand Larceny for Allegedly Defrauding Over $1 Million.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-09-11-father-and-son-brooklyn-contractors-indicted-for-grand-larc-b1c5ef097c/, SHA-256 b5d0bdce852a43f2e80f4fe0282a8aee1095891b1cc2f15ee6de3d2c81daa1db.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Father and Son Brooklyn Contractors Indicted for Grand Larceny for Allegedly Defrauding Over
                       $1 Million from Paycheck Protection Program

    Defendants.Allegedly.Lied.on.Loan.Applications·.Used.Funds.toward.Purchasing.Homes.in
                          New.Jersey.and.a.Luxury.BMW.Sports.Sedan


Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with U.S. Small Business Administration General
Counsel Therese Meers and Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Mellone, Northeast Region, U.S.
Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, today announced that two Brooklyn contractors
have been indicted for grand larceny for allegedly defrauding more than $1 million from the
Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of the alleged scheme, the
defendants submitted fraudulent tax returns that grossly inﬂated the company’s revenues to obtain
the funds and then allegedly used those funds – which were restricted to paying employees and
other legitimate business expenses – toward purchasing two homes in New Jersey, as well as a
luxury BMW sports sedan.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “These defendants allegedly engaged in a shameless scheme to
steal more than $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and line their own pockets with
critical funds intended to help struggling small business owners during the Covid-19 pandemic. We
will now seek to hold them accountable. I want to thank the Small Business Association for its
assistance in pursuing justice in this case.”

General Counsel Meers said, “The action in this matter is the product of enhanced efforts by federal
agencies such as the Small Business Administration working with the Kings County District
Attorney’s Office, SBA’s Office of Inspector General, other law enforcement agencies, and Mary
Cvengros, Senior Litigation Counsel from the SBA’s Office of General Counsel.”

Special Agent-in-Charge Mellone said, “An important part of the mission of the U.S. Department of
Labor, Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud involving pandemic-related
unemployment insurance programs. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to
investigate these types of allegations.”

The District Attorney identiﬁed the defendants as Nurus Safa, 65, and Maidal Safa, 34, of Voorhies,
New Jersey. They were arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dena Douglas on a
19-count indictment in which they are charged with ﬁrst- and second-degree grand larceny,
second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, and ﬁrst-degree falsifying business
records. They were released without bail and ordered to return to court on October 30, 2024.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, Nurus Safa is the owner of Rahil
Contracting Inc., a small construction company that operates out of Kensington, Brooklyn. Maidul
Safa, his son, is listed as a Project Executive for the company.

After the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, the US Small Business Administration (SBA)
implemented the Payment Protection Program (PPP). SBA insured PPP loans that were issued by
banks. The loans were designed for small businesses to keep workers on payroll. In order to obtain
a PPP loan, the employer was required to certify that the funds would be used for payroll or other
speciﬁed expenses needed to keep their work force employed during the COVID-19 crisis.

Nurus Safa applied for a PPP loan through an SBA-backed lender on behalf of Rahil, allegedly
falsely certifying in his application that the funds “will be used only for business related purposes,”
more speciﬁcally attesting that “the funds will be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or
make mortgage interest payments, lease payments and utility payments.” He allegedly also
submitted fraudulent quarterly tax returns for Rahil, which grossly inﬂated its revenues and
contained the forged signature of a licensed tax preparer.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, the defendants obtained two PPP loans that totaled
approximately $1,084,477.50. Shortly after the funds became available, they quickly used the
money for personal purchases, including luxury items. The defendants are alleged to have spent a
total of $393,670 toward the purchase of two ﬁve-bedroom homes, one in Voorhies, New Jersey and
the other in Pine Hill, New Jersey and spent another $71,000 as a down payment on a 2021 BMW
M5 sports sedan.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, much of the balance of the PPP funds was transferred
to personal accounts held by either Nurus Safa or Maidul Safa. An analysis of ﬁnancial records
shows no indication that any of the PPP funds were used for regular payments to employees.

The District Attorney thanked Senior Financial Investigator Faye Johnson and Intelligence Analyst
Veranika Basak, both of the Investigations Division, and KCDA Detective Investigators for their
assistance

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sergey Marts, of the District
Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Andrew Kohler, Special Counsel to the
Investigations Division, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Gregory Pavlides, Chief
of the Frauds Bureau, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos,
Deputy Chief of Investigations, and Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of
Investigations.

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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

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