Harold Dotson, 54, of Gaithersburg, was sentenced to three years in federal prison followed by six months of home confinement in connection with a conspiracy to commit wire fraud against financial institutions.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland, Dotson submitted more than $24 million in fraudulent loan applications under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. He was ordered to pay $24,807,432 in restitution.
The CARES Act provided emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Enacted in March of 2020, it provided financial assistance, including forgivable loans, to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.
According to Dotson’s plea agreement and other court documents, beginning in April 2020 and continuing through January 2022, Dotson engaged in multiple wire fraud conspiracies. He is an accountant and tax preparer and the owner and principal of H&M Tax Service LLC.
Dotson “used his accountant expertise to assist with preparing numerous false and fraudulent EIDL and PPP applications for purported businesses that did not exist in any legitimate capacity,” stated the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The applications included phony information on the number of employees businesses had, monthly payroll costs and revenue. He created the fraudulent tax forms for co-conspirator Ahmed Sary, 47, of Brooklyn, Md., and other co-conspirators to submit with the false PPP applications, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sary has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
According to court documents, Dotson primarily used the fraudulent funds to gamble at various casinos.
