Former Denver Hotel Owner Indicted for COVID-19 Fraud

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Amin Suliaman, 47, of Miami, Florida, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Colorado on four counts of wire fraud.

According to the indictment, from August 2020 until around May 2022, Suliaman requested COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and obtained $450,000 as a result of false representations. As part of the scheme, Suliaman sought loan funding for companies that were inoperable at the time of application and for a company that Suliaman had told a bankruptcy court was closed. Suliaman owned or co-owned several Colorado-based businesses including Nativ Denver and the Nativ Hotel Group.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized the SBA to provide EIDLs to eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The defendant made his initial appearance on May 14, 2024, in Miami in front of Judge Marty Fulgeira Elfenbein. A future court date will be set in Colorado.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by the United States Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Craig Fansler.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

On July 11, 2023, the Attorney General selected the District of Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to head one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud.  The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information regarding the Strike Force may be found at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-results-nationwide-covid-19-fraud-enforcement-action.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.