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Mukund Mohan was the former-Director of Microsoft Ventures and Amazon Enterprise
He had allegedly cast paperwork to amass greater than $5.5 Mn for six shell firms
Three out of 6 shell firms had been investigated by Inc42 in 2015

Former Amazon and Microsoft government Mukund Mohan has been arrested within the US for forging paperwork to amass greater than $5.5 Mn from the coronavirus aid funds meant for startups to retain staff. Mohan had allegedly claimed these advantages by exhibiting fraudulent tax filings and altered incorporation paperwork of six shell firms.
To brush up your reminiscence, Mohan had come below the radar in India for comparable causes. He had claimed to have based over 5 firms, invested in 11 firms between 2008 and 2012 in his private capability and funding two firms by means of funding fund Serviette Stage. He was one of many large names within the Indian startup ecosystem till an investigative report, Mukund Mohan: The Chronicles Of Serviette-Ville, by Inc42 scrutinised the claims made by him. At that time, many ecosystem influencers (not taking any names) had defended Mohan.
As soon as once more Mohan’s entrepreneurial claims have come to mild after a US Legal professional alleged that Mohan had created pretend and altered paperwork for six shell firms which didn’t make use of anybody to get advantages from the coronavirus aid funds Paycheck Safety Program (PPP). He, then, transferred among the acquired cash to his Robinhood brokerage account for his private advantages.
“… such property having been derived from a specified unlawful activity, namely, wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, and bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344(2). All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1957(a) and 2,” the US district courtroom order added.
General, Mohan had filed for eight fraudulent mortgage purposes by means of six firms — Zuput, GitGrow, Vangal, Count on Success. Mahenjo Inc and Zigantic LLC. Three out of six shell firms had been investigated by Inc42 in 2015.
The primary seven of those eight purposes have been summarised within the desk beneath. Notably, two purposes for $2 Mn mortgage had been canceled, one for $1.7 Mn mortgage was withdrawn, whereas different 5 purposes for loans value $2.57 Mn had been permitted.
The US Legal professional highlighted that Mohan served because the founder and/or CEO for Zuput, GitGrow, Vangal, and Count on Success, whereas his spouse is the founding father of Zigantic. The courtroom additionally famous that Mohan has utilized to Monetary Establishment 5 for a PPP mortgage on behalf of Mahenjo for $431,250 on June 3, 2020.
Mohenjo Inc: In keeping with the cast doc submitted by Mohan, Mahenjo Inc had 24 staff and paid hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in worker wages and payroll taxes. It was searching for $431,250 from PPP to pay these staff, however on additional investigation it was discovered that Mohan purchased this firm on the web in Could from an undisclosed firm that specialises in “aging” shell firms to make them appear extra reputable.
Zigantic LLC: In the meantime, the paperwork submitted for PPP mortgage additionally declare that Mohan was operating the opposite firm, Zigantic LLC, together with his teenage son because the chief advertising officer. Two Geekwire profiles of the corporate famous that Zigantic LLC is a platform that matches players with builders who want to check and validate their video games, however the firm doesn’t have a enterprise licence and has by no means paid worker wages or payroll taxes. But it acquired $304,830 in PPP loans.
Zuput: Mohan is an investor within the funding administration platform Zuput since its founding in 2015. In keeping with LinkedIn, the corporate has had three staff together with Mohan since 2015. Whereas, the official web site highlights that the corporate has seven staff however doesn’t disclose something in addition to their first names.
Vangal: Mukund has been claiming to have constructed and efficiently offered Bengaluru-based Vangal for years. The corporate claims to supply social media analytics options to assist manufacturers perceive the influence. Nonetheless, Inc42’s earlier investigation had famous that Mukund and his spouse, Vinita Ananth, are the one two administrators of the corporate since incorporating on April 16, 2010 – 2015. The report additional revealed that there was no type of funding made into Vangal or had any type of exit. Additional the one annual returns that had been filed had been of the monetary 12 months 2010–11 and confirmed no types of revenues. In keeping with LinkedIn, solely two folks have been related to this firm.
GitGrow: Inc42’s earlier article had highlighted that Mukund has owned the area, vangal.com, since 2006 until 2015 at the very least. In keeping with Archive.org, from September 2012 until October 1, 2015 vangal.com used to redirect to Gitgrow.com. Nonetheless, it used to take a consumer to the default GoDaddy web page till 2015, however now it highlights a fundamental webpage that hasn’t been up to date since 2016. The corporate additionally has just one worker.
Count on Success: Inc42 may probably not discover any main digital hint of this firm. Upon our analysis, we discovered an unclaimed web page linked to Mohan’s profile.
In keeping with Mohan’s LinkedIn profile, he’s at the moment serving because the CTO and head of gross sales in Canadian constructing supplies retailer BuildDirect. Previous to BuildDirect, he held Director posts at Microsoft Ventures and Amazon Enterprise.
Beforehand, he had claimed to have invested in three startups — ChargeBee, SignEasy and Appointy — by means of his early-stage startup fund NapkinStage. Nonetheless, the three startups clarified that NapkinStage will not be an investor in them, whereas ChargeBee and SignEasy that the corporate was solely an advisor.
Learn extra about Mukund Mohan’s claims on funding, entrepreneurship and different ventures in ‘Mukund Mohan: The Chronicles Of Napkin-Ville’.
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