Multiple individuals charged in case involving about $16 million of fraudulently obtained PPP loans

Multiple people have been charged for their alleged involvement in fraudulently securing about $16 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) coronavirus relief loans intended to help buoy businesses amid the coronavirus crisis.

According to the Justice Department, the indictment claims that the alleged perpetrators conspired to submit fraudulent loan applications that included false information about the number of employees and the average monthly payroll costs for the companies. 

"Some of the PPP loan applications were allegedly submitted on behalf of companies the defendants controlled," according to the DOJ. "Other loan applications were submitted on behalf of entities that third-parties allegedly owned, according to the indictment.  In exchange for these, several of the defendants received large kickbacks, according to the charges."

The indictment alleges that some of the money was laundered through checks directed to fake employees from businesses that secured PPP loans—people that got those checks included some of the defendants as well as members of their families, the DOJ said, citing the charges.

The checks were allegedly cashed at a business owned by one of the individuals facing charges. More than 1,100 paychecks adding to more than $3 million dollars of ill-gotten PPP loan funds were cashed at the company, the indictment alleges.

In connection with the case federal agents have seized a Porsche and a Lamborghini allegedly bought with the fraudulently secured funding.