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An Illinois tax preparer who helped run a “staggering” $14 million COVID scam used the money to build a mansion for a wife and kids he had in Palestine — infuriating his other wife in Illinois.
Sharhabeel Shreiteh, 46, received around $740,000 in kickbacks as he helped more than 1,000 people get phony Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in what he admitted to one sidekick was likely the “most stupid fraud in history.”
Shreiteh used his own ill-gotten gains to build a home and a luxury Mercedes car for his wife and their three kids in Palestine — sending his American-based wife of nearly 18 years into a jealous rage, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“You suck!” Hania Atiq Shreiteh, his 52-year-old wife in America, texted him in July 2021 about the money he was sending to his family in his native Palestine.
“I bust my a– for 13 years and don’t have like she gets without working for it!!!” she wrote, according to messages in court filings.
“You gave her kids, a villa, now fancy cars??!! … I’m so sick and tired of being lied to by you.”
Shreiteh and Hania were married in 2008 and have a daughter in suburban Chicago. It was not clear when he married the other woman in Palestine, with whom he has three children and talked to every day, nor if they are still married.
However, Hania’s anger appeared to have subsided by the time the taxpayer pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday.
“Having a second family aligns with his religious beliefs and was approved by his wife,” a court memo seeking a lighter sentence claimed. “He hopes that once the situation in the Middle East stabilizes, his other family can visit him here.”
Haniah also appeared to be standing by her man when she posted a loving Instagram post last June for their 17th wedding anniversary.
“Wishing my wonderful husband a very happy anniversary!! 17 years together… we’ve had ups and downs but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” she wrote. “I hope we have many more blessed, healthy, happy years together. I love you dearly.”
Shreiteh buried his face in his hands and burst into tears as he was handed the hefty 10-year sentence at Chicago District Court on Tuesday.
“I don’t know what to say or do now. It’s so harming for everyone. I’m speechless,” Shreiteh told US District Judge Martha Pacold.
The judge said Shreiteh strict punishment was warranted given the “staggering” extent of the fraud.
Shreiteh was also taking more than $40,000 in unemployment benefits around the same period, despite making almost $750,000 in kickback payments.
He “funded an expensive upgrade to his lifestyle with money from the American government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner told the hearing, according to Law360.
Shreiteh submitted more than 1,500 false Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of at least 1,025 clients starting in 2020, according to Zenner.
Under the scam, some $14 million in funds was fraudulently disbursed, most of which was later forgiven by the US government.
He was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud in a superseding indictment in September 2023 and pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud in August 2025.
The PPP was designed to give financial aid to small business owners and others during the pandemic, but was subject to widespread abuse.
English (US)