Prosecutors declare Gregory Dennis scammed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by misrepresenting his enterprise earnings when making use of for a hardship mortgage tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. He allegedly submitted bogus tax varieties to a California-based lender by means of its contractor’s on-line mortgage software portal.
The Miami police officer, a Broward resident, is charged with a single rely of felony wire fraud.
“That PPP mortgage software falsely represented the enterprise’s 2020 gross earnings, and as a part of the appliance course of, Dennis submitted a false and fraudulent IRS Form 1040… for tax yr 2020,” prosecutors declare.
Dennis allegedly submitted extra false tax paperwork to safe a second PPP mortgage draw. He obtained greater than $41,000 in complete by means of the Payroll Protection Program, based on courtroom paperwork.
The title of the lender, primarily based in Laguna Hills, will not be disclosed within the felony criticism.
The fraud cost has a most penalty of 20 years in jail and a high-quality of as much as $250,000. Based on a evaluate of latest PPP mortgage fraud circumstances in South Florida, nonetheless, Dennis will not be more likely to face a two-decade sentence. His preliminary look is about for March 24 in Fort Lauderdale federal courtroom.
According to a Miami Police Department spokesperson, Dennis remains to be employed with the division.
If Dennis winds up as lucky as former Coral Springs police officer Jason Carter, he would possibly keep away from jail time altogether.
Last June, Carter was charged with fraud in connection together with his software for COVID-19 reduction funds by means of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. With a watch in direction of padding his mortgage funds, he claimed his enterprise had $100,000 in income, when if truth be told, it made almost no cash, the feds claimed. Carter allegedly spent a piece of his cash on private automobile repairs and high-end auto elements.
In December, a decide gave Carter 5 years probation and ordered him to pay restitution within the quantity of $30,000 together with a $5,000 high-quality. He had pleaded responsible to a single rely of wire fraud, the identical cost Dennis is dealing with.
Dennis’s case is among the newest in a crackdown on PPP mortgage fraud that has continued because the peak of the pandemic early final yr. As of September 2022, federal prosecutors within the Southern District of Florida had seized greater than $23.5 million in stolen funds and prosecuted greater than 80 fraud circumstances tied to government-backed COVID-19 loans.
The Payroll Protection Program was a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. It offered forgivable loans to companies to maintain up with payroll and keep financially afloat throughout coronavirus-related closures and government-ordered shutdowns.
Nationwide, greater than 1,500 defendants had been charged with PPP mortgage fraud as of September 2022.