CLEVELAND – The proprietor of two firms in Solon and Highland Heights, Ohio, was sentenced on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, to fifteen months in jail and ordered to pay $195,900.34 in restitution to the Small Enterprise Administration (SBA) by U.S. District Choose Pamela A. Barker after he pleaded responsible to his function in a conspiracy to unlawfully receive Paycheck Safety Program (“PPP”) loans.
In response to court docket paperwork, Deon D. Levy, 52, of Bedford, Ohio, was half of a bigger, nationwide scheme by which co-conspirators submitted to the SBA fraudulent PPP mortgage functions, together with functions for Levy’s companies in Solon and Highland Heights. Courtroom paperwork state that the mortgage functions submitted by Levy and the opposite co-conspirators included falsified financial institution statements and payroll tax kinds, amongst different issues, and falsely and fraudulently represented the borrowing entities’ operations and funds, together with the variety of workers and quantity of month-to-month payroll.
Courtroom data present that the mortgage utility for Levy’s enterprise had been submitted by co-conspirators James Richard Stote and Ross Charno. In return for his or her work on the appliance, Levy despatched a kickback of roughly 25% of the quantity of the PPP mortgage secured. Consequently, Levy and the opposite co-defendants triggered the SBA to difficulty two loans price roughly $875,000 to accounts managed by Levy.
James Richard Stote was sentenced to 10 years in jail, and Ross Charno was sentenced to 2 years in jail for his or her roles within the scheme to submit fraudulent functions for greater than $35 million in PPP loans.
This case was investigated by the Cleveland FBI, IRS CI (Prison Investigation), and the SBA Workplace of the Inspector Normal (SBA OIG). This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Lawyer Elliot Morrison for the Northern District of Ohio.