A former Howell man has admitted to bilking the government out of $3.75 million in funds set up to aid small businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kevin Aguilar, 54, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in federal court in Trenton to all 15 counts of an indictment: one count of conspiracy to engage in bank fraud, seven counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy involving an unlawful transaction, one count of making an unlawful transaction and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act was signed into law at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the Payroll Protection programs, which handed out loans to distressed small businesses for job retention, rent and other expenses. The short-term, low-interest loans were forgivable if businesses spent a certain percentage on payroll and spent the money on all the targeted expenses within a specific period.
Between April 2020 and May 2021, Aguilar conspired with others to submit seven fraudulent payroll protection applications and three fraudulent disaster loan applications on behalf of four businesses: Showtime Trucking, Showtime TTR XPO, TTS Terminal Corp. and American Consolidated Freightways Corp. He and his co-defendant, Jean E. Rabbit, whom he lived with, received $3.3 million from the payroll protection fund and $450,000 from the disaster loan program, authorities said.
Charges against Rabbitt are pending. --->READ MORE HERE
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A Lancaster man was sentenced for filing fraudulent loan applications for loans that helped businesses keep their workforces employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
According to officials, 45-year-old Larry Jordan conspired with his brother Curtis Jordan to submit eight fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications between April and September 2020. One of which was submitted on behalf of their company 5 Stems Inc.
The application claimed that in 2019, 5 Stems Inc. paid $242,133.33 monthly to 194 employees. The bank approved the application and funded a $605,200 loan. In reality, 5 Stems Inc. only had nine employees in 2019 and paid them $57,380 for the year.
The brothers submitted IRS forms and fraudulent payroll registers to corroborate the applications. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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