In Philadelphia With planning to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and pre-pandemic Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, eight defendants were charged today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In accordance with court documents, defendants Frank Hamilton, 52, of Simi Valley, California; Michael Jones, 55, of Azusa; Tina Chen, 39, of Diamond Bar; Kenny Tran, 38, of Diamond Bar; Tim Park, 37, of Northridge; Peter An, 37, of Chatsworth; Joseph Greco, 42, of Simi Valley; and Edwin Bonilla, 36, of Los Angeles, California, among others, allegedly conspired to submit an SB visa application.
Hamilton, Jones, and others created phoney documentation for the firms, such as fraudulent bank statements and fictitious tax returns, to give the impression that they were operating enterprises with operations and employees in exchange for payments. One conspirator gave the others a script to follow when speaking with lenders. The conspirators allegedly acquired PPP, EIDL, and SBA loans totaling over $7 million.
The conspirators allegedly followed so-called “forgiveness plans,” according to court documents, which instructed them to transmit the fraud proceeds as fake payroll payments for each of the businesses that received PPP funds.
These “forgiveness plans” were made to look that the loan recipient was complying with the SBA requirement that a portion of the PPP money be used for payroll by disguising the proceeds as payroll payments, increasing the possibility that the loan recipient would be eligible for loan forgiveness.
Jones, Chen, Tran, Park, An, Greco, and Bonilla sent the masked fraud proceeds to a bank account in the name of a defunct business Hamilton controlled on Hamilton’s instruction.
With conspiring to commit wire fraud, Hamilton, Jones, Chen, Tran, Park, An, Greco, and Bonilla are all accused. They could each spend up to 20 years in jail if found guilty. After taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations, a federal district court judge will decide on any sentence.
The SBA-OIG, IRS-CI, Philadelphia Field Office of HSI, and Philadelphia Field Office of the FBI all looked into this case.
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The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was established by the Attorney General on May 17, 2021, to coordinate the Department of Justice’s resources with those of other federal agencies in an endeavour to strengthen the fight against and prevention of pandemic-related fraud. By, among other things, enhancing and incorporating current coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, sharing and utilising information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts, and assisting agencies tasked with administering relief programmes, the Task Force supports efforts to investigate and prosecute the most responsible domestic and international criminal actors. It also supports agencies tasked with preventing fraud.
