Three Long Islanders are among nine New Yorkers who\u00a0have pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars in state pandemic grants, the state Inspector General\u2019s Office announced Friday.<\/p>\n
The defendants,\u00a0including\u00a0two from Nassau and one from Suffolk, submitted applications on behalf of fictitious and shuttered businesses in order to steal funds meant to help small firms survive the COVID-19 pandemic, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang said in a written announcement.\u00a0The investigation was conducted by Katz’s office in collaboration with the inspector general’s office, according to the announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0nine defendants pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the fourth degree and petit larceny in Queens Supreme Court between May 2025 and February 2026, the\u00a0inspector general’s office said.<\/p>\n
The three Long Islanders who admitted taking part in the scheme are Tanvir Milon, 55, of Farmingdale;\u00a0Juned Khan, 56, of Deer Park; and Nadeem Sheikh, 56, of New Hyde Park, according to the announcement and court documents provided to Newsday by the Queens District Attorney’s office. The documents did not list attorneys or contact information for the defendants,\u00a0but Newsday identified a lawyer for Milon. The\u00a0attorney\u00a0declined to\u00a0comment.<\/p>\n
In total, the nine\u00a0defendants were ordered to pay nearly $1.1 million in restitution for defrauding the\u00a0COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program. The\u00a0state has already received\u00a0$760,000, Lang’s office said.<\/p>\n
\u201cExploiting disaster relief funds for personal gain is both criminal and shameful at any time, but particularly during a global health crisis,\u201d Lang said in a statement. \u201cNew York will not stand for putting greed above the public good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milon was ordered to pay\u00a0$280,512 in restitution, while Khan and Sheikh were ordered to pay $70,000 and $46,208, respectively, according to court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Investigators said\u00a0Milon stole $280,512 in grant funding from the state through claims for nine fraudulent businesses. They also said he ripped off the\u00a0federal COVID-19\u00a0Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, which offered low-interest loans from\u00a0the Small Business Administration,\u00a0to the tune of more than $2.5 million.<\/p>\n
Khan used eight businesses to steal $127,300 from the state program, investigators said, and\u00a0stole $72,000 from the EIDL program. Sheikh stole $96,208 in state recovery grants\u00a0through two fraudulent\u00a0businesses, according to court documents.<\/p>\n