Businessman accused of fraud related to COVID-19 relief

CHICAGO (AP) - An Evanston businessman is facing federal fraud charges alleging he lied on an application for nearly half a million dollars in financial relief related to the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. District Court documents revealed Tuesday.

Rahul Shah of Evanston is accused of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The charges against Shah, 51, revolve around an application made by Shah's N2N Holdings to the Paycheck Protection Program. PPP was created to provide forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.

Federal prosecutors allege N2N Holdings submitted paperwork that claimed employees who once worked for another Shah company, Katalyst Technologies Inc. of Evanston, were current employees of N2N.

When confronted in May by federal agents about the discrepancies last month, Shah initially claimed the tax information submitted with the application had come from 'œemployees in India,'ť according to court documents. Later during questioning, Shah admitted he submitted the information ``thinking it will keep our business alive.'ť

Shah could not immediately be reached for comment, and no lawyer is listed for him in the court record.