TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Acting US Attorney Rachael Honig revealed today that a Middlesex County, New Jersey resident has confessed to accepting Payment Program (PP) funds he was not entitled to receive and then depositing a stolen Treasury check.
Bernard Lopez, 40, via videoconference, pled guilty to one charge of bank fraud and one count of misuse of government funds before U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan.
According to the legal records and statements presented in court, this verdict was inevitable.
A phony scheme was established in which a stolen Treasury check was deposited into the name of Pezlo Management. The check was made out to Pezlo in the balance of $886. Instead, it was deposited into his corporate account at Pez’s Popsicle Marketing. Police believe that the Lopez family removed or exchanged the money before the bank discovered the theft.
The fake application to a PPP organization that Lopez owned was created on June 24, 2020, on Lopez’s behalf. Small companies impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic will be supported by the Small Business Administration’s PPP loan program. instead of applying to the PPP lending programs, borrowers allow affirmative certifications for their total monthly costs, and employee count applicants state that they would still use PPP funds to cover wages, rent, services, and mortgages PEP loans can be fully repaid if the recipient invests the funds within the PEP era.
Company-1 lied about having a monthly payroll of $192,000, employed 25 people, and had estimated mortgage and utility expenditures of $192,000, according to PPP. The company did not, in practice, budget for staff or utilities. based on Lopez’s bogus claims, the lender granted $481,502 in federal aid to his PPP program. When he was finished, he purchased a portion of the money.
Individuals convicted of bank theft will be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in jail and fined up to $1 million, or two times the defendant’s net income or damage, whatever is larger. If an elected official steals government funding, he or she will be incarcerated for a term of ten years and fined up to $250,000, or double the money taken in the crime, whichever is larger. The sentencing will take place on October 6, 2021.
Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. G. Honig thanked U.S. Department of the Treasury special agents and task force officers for their contribution to the inquiry that led to the charges. Finally, she praised the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General investigators, thanked both Patricia Tarasca, from San Francisco, and her fellow Special Agent in Charge in Newark, Jason Mol, for their support.
