A Detroit man has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $14.5 million in restitution for a fraud scheme involving COVID-19 pandemic relief loans, according to officials.
According to a release from Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti of the Western District of Pennsylvania, Matthew Lloyd Parker has been sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release.
Parker, a certified CPA, and others cheated lenders out of almost $14.5 million by submitting bogus applications for COVID-19 pandemic relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Officials claim he recruited hundreds of small firms from Detroit and Pennsylvania and submitted fraudulent PPP applications in their names.
Businesses received loans totaling $14.5 million, with more than 200 applications approved.
“The United States argued that Parker’s sophistication as a CPA aided him in falsifying the hundreds of PPP loan documents, which then generated substantial PPP loans to others along with approximately 1.5 million dollars in loan processing fees to Parker,” said the press release.
In addition to serving his prison sentence, Parker must pay $14.5 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration.