Arun Mago
Introduction
Arun Mago, 47, an Austin certified public accountant, was sentenced in federal court to 41 months in prison for money laundering and bank fraud that undermined the Paycheck Protection Program. Court documents show Mago laundered $150,000 in cash he knew to be the proceeds of cocaine distribution between October 2023 and July 2024 — after a COVID-era fraud in which he obtained nearly $1 million in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans for several business entities and spent the money on real estate. U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas announced the sentence on October 28, 2026.
Background Information
Mago’s fraud began during the pandemic. From about April 4 to November 23, 2021, he applied for and received several fraudulent PPP loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for several business entities totaling nearly $1 million. Bank records revealed that he transferred the funds into his personal bank account and used them for multiple real estate purchases. Two years later, between October 2023 and July 2024, he laundered $150,000 in cash that he knew to be the proceeds of cocaine distribution. The two schemes — pandemic loan fraud followed by drug-money laundering — formed the money laundering and bank fraud for which he was sentenced. Investigators traced the COVID loan fraud, more than $900,000 of it, and caught the laundering through an undercover operation run by IRS Criminal Investigation.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced. A federal judge sentenced Mago to 41 months in prison for money laundering and bank fraud, and ordered him to pay more than $900,000 in restitution and a $250,000 fine. The sentence was announced October 28, 2026.
The details of Mago’s expertise became part of his own case file. As IRS Criminal Investigation’s Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus Jr. recounted, Mago, who was a certified public accountant, “wrote a book with a chapter titled ‘Black Money’ and claimed money laundering and tax evasion schemes were untraceable.” “I can only imagine his shock when we traced his more than $900,000 of COVID loan fraud and also got him on money laundering charges in an undercover operation,” Altemus said. “Money always leaves a trace and criminals always think they are smarter than law enforcement. You can earn certifications, you can write books, but, when you break the law, we write the final chapter by taking your money and your freedom.” The accountant who had claimed laundering could not be traced was traced — through bank records tying his pandemic loans to personal real estate purchases, and through an undercover operation that reached his later work moving cocaine cash.
Public Reaction and Consequences
“Arun Mago not only defrauded the United States government during the chaotic COVID-19 pandemic but continued down his criminal path to launder a substantial amount drug money,” said U.S. Attorney Simmons. “Mago thought that he was untouchable and an expert fraudster, but now he knows otherwise. The Trump Administration has prioritized prosecuting fraudsters who steal from the American people, and the Western District of Texas has, once again, met that mission. This office and our federal law enforcement partners will always hold accountable those who steal from the American taxpayer and undermine our federal programs.” In addition to the imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ordered Mago to pay over $900,000 in restitution and a $250,000 fine. The case was investigated by IRS-CI and the Office of the Texas Attorney General, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Henneke.
Current Status
Mago has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, with over $900,000 in restitution and a $250,000 fine imposed by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman. The release records no appeal and no report date. The announcement ties the case to the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, created April 7, whose work supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The sentence puts a certified public accountant — a profession built on the careful handling of other people’s money — in federal prison for 41 months, three years and five months, and obliges him to repay more than $900,000 on top of a $250,000 fine. The book with its “Black Money” chapter, cited by the investigating agent as the emblem of his miscalculation, now stands as the record of an expert who believed his own claim that laundering was untraceable. What remains is the prison term, a restitution bill north of $900,000, and the fine; the release records no action regarding his accounting credentials.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, “Accountant Sentenced to Federal Prison for Money Laundering, PPP Fraud,” October 28, 2026 — source