More than a year after he was sentenced, ‘Sunny’ Shah reports to federal prison

More than 16 months after he was sentenced for his role in an income tax refund scheme, a Columbus businessman reported to federal prison this week, a Bureau of Prisons employee confirmed.

Sawan “Sunny” Shah reported to the Federal Prison Camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday to begin serving his 21-month sentence handed down on Jan. 26, 2016.

Shah was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land for his role in a scam that bilked more than $24 million from the U.S. government and has led to nearly two dozen convictions in federal court in Alabama and Georgia.

At the time of the sentencing, Land did not set a reporting date for Shah. The sentence included three years of probation and Shah was ordered to pay $1.375 million in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.

On May 1, the Ledger-Enquirer reported that Shah had not begun to serve his sentence after more than 15 months of freedom. At the time, attorneys representing Shah and the government would not comment on the reason for the delay in reporting to prison.

The silence in the Shah case extended beyond the lawyers and into the official record. A number of filings since March 2016 involving Shah’s case have been ordered sealed by Land and unavailable for public review.

At least five times since last March, documents have been entered into the Shah case file and each time those documents have been ordered sealed by the court. On March 7, May 25, Sept. 9 and Dec. 7 of 2016 and March 9 of 2017, the prosecutor requested that documents filed with the court be sealed.

As of Tuesday, the March 9 filing was the last one on record in Shah’s case file.

Shah, a naturalized citizen from Mumbai, India, who has lived in Columbus for more than 16 years and owns a string of local convenience stores, was involved in cashing 567 fake income tax refund checks during 2013 and 2014. The checks totaled more than $1.357 million, according to facts presented at the sentencing.

Shah is a prominent contributor to local political campaigns. He received considerable support from local elected officials at the time of the sentencing. Then-Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr testified at the sentencing, telling Land that he was a friend.

“I understand the gravity of anybody in front of a judge and especially in a court,” Darr said at the time. “And I know there’s a lot of things you have to take in consideration in this part of any kind of case and especially when it comes to the sentencing. All I wanted to do is make my comments really, really brief, in fact to — to the extent of that I talked to Mr. Shah. He is remorseful, and he regrets his actions. I know that. He’s taken ownership of that.”

Darr was defeated in 2016 when he sought his third term by now Sheriff Donna Tompkins, who made Darr’s remarks in federal court a campaign issue.

The day Shah was sentenced, two other elected officials, Marshal Greg Countryman and Municipal Court Clerk Vivian Creighton-Bishop, sat on the row with Shah’s family members. Neither spoke but they did write letters to the court on Shah’s behalf. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Georgia Democrat, also wrote a letter to the court on Shah’s behalf.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "More than a year after he was sentenced, ‘Sunny’ Shah reports to federal prison."