A federal judge sentenced Mohammed Maio to 10 years in a $2.2 million COVID-relief fraud case.

Ten years is the judgment on the counts he admitted. The office and the Daily Independent list five guilty pleas, including felon in possession of a firearm and a false statement in the purchase of a gun. azfamily described that gun count as a charge, and it named only the two conspiracy pleas. His parents pleaded guilty in July. Wednesday's release does not sentence them.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona announced on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, that Mohammed Maio, 44, of Phoenix, was sentenced the day before by United States District Judge Michael T. Liburdi to 10 years in prison. The day before that Wednesday release was Tuesday, Oct. 13. azfamily, in a story published Wednesday, reported the same 10-year term and reported he was sentenced on Tuesday by a federal district judge. The Daily Independent reported the office announced the 10-year sentence in a release on Wednesday, and it did not print the judge's name or the day of the hearing. azfamily's first sentence says he was sentenced for stealing millions. The office, azfamily's own later paragraphs, and the Daily Independent put the loans at nearly $2.2 million.

The plea list is not one list. The office said Maio had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud, felon in possession of a firearm, and a materially false statement during the acquisition of a firearm. The Daily Independent printed those same five pleas. azfamily reported he pleaded guilty in July to the two conspiracy counts, and then wrote that he "was also charged with illegally having a firearm as a convicted felon." A charge and a plea are not the same step. azfamily also reported he admitted arranging for his mother to buy a firearm for him in May 2021 and having her lie on the application that the gun was for her. The office said the same thing in plea language: he admitted he caused his mother to state falsely that the firearm was for her use, and that he later illegally possessed the gun she bought.

The office said that between May 2020 and March 2024, Maio conspired to obtain and misuse Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan money. It said he submitted false information to get nearly $2.2 million in loans for multiple businesses that had no employees, and that the money went to personal enrichment, including the purchase of multiple properties, rather than to legitimate business purposes. U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said, "Maio's actions resulted in significant financial loss to the U.S. government and exploited a program intended to provide relief to small businesses during a national crisis." Scott Brown, acting special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation's Phoenix field office, said Maio was "scheming to defraud the government relief programs for personal gain" while businesses and families were struggling. A.J. Gibes, special agent in charge of the ATF Phoenix field division, said Maio "illegally armed himself to protect his multi-million-dollar scheme." The office said IRS Criminal Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated, and that Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin M. Rapp handled the prosecution. The release prints two case numbers, CR-25-00766-PHX-MTL and CR-26-00488-PHX-MTL. It does not print a restitution figure or a term of supervised release.

azfamily reported that Maio's parents, Souzan El-Sayed, 66, and Abukar Maio, 70, were also indicted and that both pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Wednesday release from the U.S. Attorney's Office is about Mohammed Maio's sentence. It does not announce a sentence for either parent. The 10-year term is what Liburdi imposed on the pleas the office listed. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.