SACRAMENTO  -   A 10-count indictment was unsealed today against Suneet Singal, 43, of El Dorado Hills, charging him with wire fraud and mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between March 2017 and July 2017, Singal engaged in a scheme to make false representations in order to induce financing companies to provide funds to certain companies in the form of merchant cash advances, which are advances of money in exchange for promises to repay greater amounts of money from future receivables. To obtain the cash advances, Singal claimed that he was the owner of a company that operated a chain of fast-food franchises, but he did not actually own that company.

f convicted, Singal faces a maximum statutory penalty for each count of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss, whichever is greater. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.