Albany Firm Coughs Up $1.9M in PPP Scam

⏱ 3 min read

Albany manufacturer Sark Wire Corporation is on the hook for $1.9 million after admitting they cooked the books to grab COVID-19 relief money. Back in 2020, when the CARES Act was supposed to be a lifeline for struggling businesses, Sark Wire allegedly lied about its size to qualify for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. The feds say they deliberately hid their ties to a Turkish conglomerate and its overseas workforce.

The scam was simple: inflate the employee count. PPP rules said to include *all* workers, even those at foreign branches. But Sark Wire conveniently left off the heads they had overseas, keeping their numbers below the 300-employee limit that would have disqualified them. Once those overseas employees were factored in, the company wasn’t eligible for the loans they’d already pocketed.

Court documents confirm Sark Wire fessed up to the deception, admitting they failed to disclose foreign ownership and omitted those overseas employees on their loan applications. Apparently, a proactive approach to settlement talks with federal prosecutors – led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III – eased the blow. It’s not prison time, but nearly two million bucks is a steep price to pay for a pandemic hustle.

The $1.9 million settlement is the feds clawing back what they call “funds obtained through material misrepresentation.” While the government was doling out billions in emergency funds, they were also keeping a close eye on those trying to game the system, and Sark Wire learned the hard way that the watch never ends.