| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Winchester Man Charged with COVID-Relief Fraud |
| 2020-06-25 |
| [Justice.gov] Owner of Information Technology Services Company Fraudulently Sought More than $13 million in Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program Loans A Winchester man was arrested today and charged with allegedly filing fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $13 million in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for COVID-19 relief through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, and will appear in federal court in Boston this afternoon. I can’t find an image of the gentleman, but the company website lists two physical addresses: the one in Boston and another somewhere in India. According to the complaint, Buoi is the president and CEO of an information technology services company, Sosuda Tech, LLC. Between April 2020 and June 2020, Buoi allegedly submitted fraudulent applications for over $13 million in PPP loans through SBA-approved lenders. In these applications, Buoi misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses and falsely certified that the United States was the primary residence for his employees. Buoi also allegedly submitted falsified documentation in support of his applications for PPP funds. The complaint further alleges that Buoi ultimately received over $2 million in PPP funds. The government has seized approximately $1.98 million from Sosuda’s business bank accounts."The defendant tried to defraud an emergency program designed to help businesses, and their employees, survive the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression," said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. "This behavior is reprehensible, and my office is committed to rooting out and prosecuting this kind of fraud wherever we find it." 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 up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses, through the PPP. In April 2020, Congress authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding. The PPP allows qualifying small-businesses and other organizations to receive loans with a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1 percent. PPP loan proceeds must be used by businesses on payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if businesses spend the proceeds on these expenses within a set time period and use at least a certain percentage of the loan towards payroll expenses. This is at least the second time that New England businessmen have been charged with fraud in connection with this program. In May, David A. Staveley, aka Kurt D. Sanborn, 52, of Andover, Massachusetts, and David Butziger, 51, of Warwick, Rhode Island, were accused of applying for loans by claiming to have dozens of employees earning wages at four different business entities when, in fact, there were no employees working for any of the businesses. Related: Paycheck Protection Program: 2020-05-26 Hundreds of public companies keep coronavirus loans from federal program Paycheck Protection Program: 2020-05-19 Dem Rep. Jayapal: Coronavirus ‘Suffering' Gives Democrats ‘Leverage' in Congress Paycheck Protection Program: 2020-05-18 Reality star allegedly spent $1.5 million from federal small business program on jewelry, Rolls-Royce |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #5 African immigrant. You can find him on LinkedIn. Thank you for finding all that, Ebberens Glimp4613. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-06-25 11:03 |
| #4 From EBT cards to contract fraud, if you want to steal big steal from the US taxpayer via Uncle Sugar. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-06-25 07:32 |
| #3 Buoi is the Little Engine That Could: The affidavit*** states that Buoi first filed a PPP application with Bank of America in April for $7.5 million, based on the 353 employees he said he had, all allegedly in Massachusetts. After the bank rejected his request, he tried again with three other lenders, asking each for $2 million, with his employee count on applications ranging from 18 to 96 employees. The first two lenders also rejected his requests, but the final one, to which he claimed he had 96 US employees, approved his request and he had $2 million deposited in his Bank of America checking account earlier this month. According to the affidavit, Buoi’s LinkedIn page says he has just five employees, and all are in India, making them ineligible for PPP coverage. |
| Posted by: Ebberens Glimp4613 2020-06-25 05:43 |
| #2 I can’t find an image of the gentleman African immigrant. You can find him on LinkedIn. His "company" is run out of a condo (see aliases) and is a marketing arm for programmers in India. |
| Posted by: Ebberens Glimp4613 2020-06-25 05:34 |
| #1 "Buoi ultimately received over $2 million in PPP funds. The government has seized approximately $1.98 million from Sosuda’s business bank accounts." Now that's pretty good going! Give the bureaucrats a cut if he's convicted. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-06-25 05:22 |