The ultimate defendant in a multi-million-dollar COVID-19 reduction fraud case made his first look in federal court docket in Miami on Thursday, finishing the trio of males charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. authorities via the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP).
Guillermo Lopez Carrazana, Christian Mendoza, and Max Alberto Mera Ulloa—all residents of Miami-Dade County—are accused of collaborating in a scheme to submit over 165 fraudulent PPP mortgage functions between Could 2020 and March 2021, based on an indictment unsealed this week.
The federal prices allege that the three males conspired to acquire greater than $6.5 million in pandemic reduction funds, meant to assist struggling small companies keep afloat in the course of the top of the COVID-19 disaster. The PPP loans had been administered by the U.S. Small Enterprise Administration (SBA) underneath the CARES Act.
Based on prosecutors, Mendoza, a tax preparer, and the opposite defendants owned or operated a number of companies, together with G LUX LLC, World Tax & Accounting Group Corp, CM Logistics Programs LLC, and Max Mera Company. These entities had been allegedly used to file mortgage functions that grossly misrepresented payroll and worker data, securing giant sums of taxpayer cash underneath false pretenses.
The indictment additionally particulars a kickback scheme, by which the defendants are accused of providing and accepting funds to refer further people into the fraudulent mortgage operation. Somewhat than utilizing the funds for professional enterprise bills, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly used the cash for private enrichment.
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“The Paycheck Safety Program was designed to assist small companies climate the financial storm of the pandemic—to not function a slush fund for fraudsters,” stated U.S. Lawyer Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida in a press release.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Miami Area Workplace and IRS Legal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Area Workplace, with Assistant U.S. Lawyer Roger Cruz dealing with the prosecution.
If convicted, the defendants may face important jail time for his or her roles in defrauding a important pandemic-era reduction program.
