Vinicius Santana, COVID-Relief Fraud, Massachusetts 2022

State: Massachusetts
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/florida-man-sentenced-25-million-covid-relief-fraud" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

BOSTON – A former Massachusetts resident was sentenced today in connection with filing fraudulent applications to obtain $2.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds made available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Vinicius Santana, 35, of Boca Raton, Fla. and formerly of Revere, Mass. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 29 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Santana was also ordered to pay restitution of $2.5 million and forfeiture.

In September 2022, Santana pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of unlawful monetary transactions.

Santana owned Complete Home Care, LLC (CHC), a painting company in Massachusetts. In April 2020, Santana submitted several different PPP loan applications on behalf of CHC. In the initial applications, Santana listed five employees and an average monthly payroll of between $10,000 and $18,000. These applications were denied. In the fourth application for CHC, Santana falsely claimed to have 154 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1 million. On May 11, 2020, a bank issued Santana’s company a $2.5 million loan based on the false representations in the fourth application.

After receiving the funds, Santana misused the loan proceeds to buy real estate and cars and to invest in cryptocurrency.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain approved expenses, through the PPP.

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