Ajay Singh, a 46-year-old Winnipeg man, is facing extradition to the United States over allegations he helped defraud a COVID-19 relief program out of millions. U.S. authorities accuse Singh of using inflated or fake payroll numbers to secure more than $11.5 million US in forgivable loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, with over $600,000 US unaccounted for after Wells Fargo recovered most of the money. Singh was arrested last December and was also known as Ajay Singh Kalkat. The extradition request filed with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin alleges he submitted applications through three Wisconsin-based companies between 2020 and 2021. The alleged scheme involved repeated PPP applications. Trucking company Aikam Logistics received a $301,882 US loan in 2020 based on documents claiming it had 10 employees. In a 2021 application for Aikam, Singh allegedly reported 97 employees, and the company received a $997,000 US loan. U.S. officials pointed to inconsistencies in the reported employee numbers between the two applications. The request also alleges that two other companies owned by Singh, AK Hunt Capital Finance LLC and AK Hunt Ltd, existed only on paper because they did not pay employees or earn revenue. AK Hunt was granted a $301,882 US loan in 2020 based on an application listing nine employees. AK Hunt Capital Finance LLC received a $9,975,000 US loan in 2021, with documents claiming 497 employees. A witness would allegedly testify that the listed address was not large enough to host that many employees, and that Singh rented the space for about half a year for roughly $450 US a month. After Wells Fargo approved the $9.9 million US loan in March 2021, the bank began closing business accounts linked to the companies. The document says several identical applications had previously been rejected. The extradition request further alleges that Singh sent Wells Fargo a letter in April 2021 after being interviewed by a Wells Fargo investigator, agreeing to reverse the last loan because the PPP funds should not be used for the purposes he intended. U.S. officials say he did not address other loans that were approved. An Internal Revenue Service investigator would be able to testify about transactions after each loan, including transfers to broker and personal accounts in multiple banks and purchases using cashier cheques. The request says the investigator also traced about $15,000 US of the money in jewelry purchases for Singh's wife. A Manitoba Court of King's Bench judge dismissed Singh’s bid in September to stop the proceedings, rejecting arguments that Canadian authorities violated his Charter rights by issuing an arrest warrant without knowing what he would be charged with in the U.S. Justice Ami Kotler wrote that the warrant application’s failure to identify specific charges did not represent a Charter violation. Singh was granted bail in December under conditions including surrendering his passport to police and being barred from having sole authority for financial transactions or loans as part of his employment. A final decision on whether he will be extradited remains pending.