A former JetBlue worker from Jamaica is the final of seven conspirators convicted for stealing almost $1.5 million in fraudulently obtained COVID-19 small business loans.
Keily Nunez, 42, pleaded responsible on Aug. 23 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in reference to false statements he made to acquire loans for himself and his co-conspirators pursuant to the Financial Damage Catastrophe Mortgage (EIDL) program. Nunez beforehand pleaded responsible to wire fraud and he and his co-defendants withstand 20 years in jail at sentencing, in response to federal prosecutors.
“Every of the defendants admitted to their half in stealing almost $1.5 million from a authorities program designed to assist struggling small companies and households survive the pandemic,” mentioned U.S. Legal professional Breon Peace. “This workplace will proceed to aggressively prosecute those that search to counterpoint themselves by abusing authorities packages.”
Based on courtroom paperwork, between April 2020 and November 2020, the defendants appealed for EIDL loans for eleven separate entities. In these purposes, the defendants falsely represented the variety of staff related to the entities and misstated the gross revenues for the entities for the 12 months previous to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For instance, Nunez submitted a mortgage utility to the Small Enterprise Affiliation (SBA) in April 2020 claiming that co-defendant Fanny Plasencia, additionally a Jamaica resident, was the chief working officer and Nunez was the supervisor of FI USA Consulting LLC (FI USA). Within the utility, Nunez falsely claimed that FI USA had 42 staff and gross revenues of $672,137 for the related interval. The SBA authorized that utility and wired $149,900 to FI USA’s checking account, in response to federal prosecutors.
In distinction to the claims made within the utility, New York Division of Labor information confirmed that FI USA by no means reported having any staff. IRS information additional revealed that FI USA by no means filed a tax return since its formation in 2017. There isn’t any proof that the EIDL funds offered to FI USA had been used for enterprise functions.
Based mostly on the defendants’ false representations, the SBA authorized roughly $1.5 million in loans that had been deposited into the defendants’ financial institution accounts.
Along with making false statements to acquire the loans, Nunez and his co-defendants didn’t use the aid funding for ongoing enterprise bills because the EIDL program requires, in response to prosecutors. As a substitute, they withdrew lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in money from financial institution accounts that had acquired EIDL mortgage funds.
“Nunez and his co-conspirators fleeced the federal government to the tune of over $1.5 million, profiting from packages designed to maintain small companies afloat throughout a time of unprecedented financial volatility,” mentioned Homeland Safety Investigations New York Performing Particular Agent in Cost Ricky J. Patel. “For the reason that early days of the COVID-19 world pandemic, HSI has been dedicated to uncovering pandemic fraud and holding accountable those that reap the benefits of tragedy to show a revenue.”
Nunez can also be charged in a separate case for scheming to defraud Lengthy Island Metropolis-based JetBlue for greater than $1 million, together with three co-defendants.
