SoCal Grifter Gets 5.5 Years in SBA Scam

⏱ 2 min read

Frank Hamilton, 55, of Simi Valley, California, is trading sunshine for a federal cell after getting 66 months in prison yesterday. Judge Wendy Beetlestone, in Philadelphia, sentenced Hamilton for running a scheme that milked the Small Business Administration for over $6 million. He wasn’t looking to save businesses, just cash them in.

The con started before COVID, with standard SBA 7(a) loans. But when the pandemic hit, Hamilton and his crew smelled opportunity and switched to the easier targets: Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Court papers paint Hamilton as the teacher, showing others how to craft bogus applications and providing phony tax returns as backup. He even hooked up his partners with “shelf companies”—empty businesses bought to look legit on paper.

The playbook was simple: apply, get approved, grab the money, and disappear. The PPP’s promise of loan forgiveness – for legitimately paying employees – was just another angle they tried to work. Hamilton wasn’t filling out the paperwork himself; he was the architect of the fraud, profiting from the lies of others.

Beetlestone didn’t just hand down the sentence. She ordered Hamilton to pay back the entire $6,093,024.90 he stole. He’ll also face two years of supervised release after his time inside. The feds haven’t released details on the extent of cooperator testimony. Expect more shoes to drop.