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Delray Beach Man Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison For Bank Fraud, False Statements, And Aggravated Identity Theft Involving COVID-19 Relief Programs | USAO-NDFL

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – Jason R. Coody, Performing United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida declared the sentencing of Jeremie Saintvil, 46, of Delray Beach front, Florida. Saintvil was sentenced to a complete of 17 decades in jail followed by 5 decades of supervised launch. Additional, Saintvil was ordered to pay $1,560,628.38 in restitution to quite a few banking institutions, credit unions, and credit history card companies, and to the United States Tiny Enterprise Administration (SBA).

Saintvil’s sentence was the outcome of an 8-day jury trial that resulted in guilty verdicts on September 24, 2021. Saintvil was found responsible of financial institution fraud, producing wrong statements to a federally insured economic institution, aggravated identity theft, and making false statements to a federal company.

“The theft of vital taxpayer reduction cash and victimization of our elderly is reprehensible,” said Performing U.S. Lawyer Coody. “The misleading and subtle acts of this defendant not only diverted crisis financial support from modest companies necessary for position retention, but also victimized our aged citizens, lots of of whom because of to highly developed age or illness, ended up more susceptible and unable to easily discern their identities experienced been stolen and made use of for illegal acts. With the help of our devoted law enforcement associates, we are fully commited to investigating and prosecuting people who have interaction in acts of elder abuse and covid-associated fraud.”

Between February 2018 and June 2020, Saintvil submitted fraudulent applications searching for more than $1.5 million in Paycheck Security System (PPP) and Economic Damage Catastrophe (EIDL) loans made available by the SBA. As element of his plan, Saintvil fraudulently attained the identities of elderly people today who had been citizens of senior dwelling facilities, whom he then represented have been rules in the fictitious enterprises looking for the forgivable financial loans. The fraudulent purposes, which had been directed to nine diverse federally insured credit history unions, banking companies, and the SBA, misrepresented the variety of staff members and payroll expenses of the alleged organizations, and created many other inaccurate statements in aid of the PPP and EIDL mortgage purposes, such as distributing falsified tax files and financial institution account info.

“Today’s sentencing is the closing chapter in this investigation and can hopefully start off the therapeutic process for all of those people impacted by the defendant’s nefarious steps,” reported IRS Legal Investigation Unique Agent in Demand Brian Payne. “We will go on to examine criminals like Saintvil who steal identities, rob very important taxpayer aid funds, and victimize the elderly.”

The Coronavirus Help Relief and Economic Safety (CARES) Act is a federal law enacted March 29, 2020. It is created to deliver crisis economical help to tens of millions of Individuals who are suffering the economic outcomes ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic. A person source of aid furnished by the CARES Act is the authorization of forgivable loans to tiny enterprises for task retention and specified other fees as a result of the PPP. The Smaller Company Administration (SBA) ensures PPP loans which are funded by collaborating monetary establishments. The PPP enables qualifying small corporations and other businesses to receive financial loans with a maturity of two a long time and an curiosity level of one p.c. Corporations will have to use PPP personal loan proceeds for payroll prices, fascination on mortgages, hire and utilities. The PPP then allows the desire and principal to be forgiven if firms invested the personal loan proceeds on qualifying fees in just a set time-interval and applied at the very least a sure share of the personal loan proceeds for payroll bills.   

“In a time of national turmoil and uncertainty, this defendant flagrantly defrauded courses meant to assist Us citizens and their organizations,” said Sean T. Ryan, Acting Specific Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division.  “His whole disregard for his fellow citizens in the course of the pandemic – specially vulnerable elders – unveiled his real shades as a fraudster. The FBI will keep on to allocate sources to investigate COVID-19 and elder fraud, and work together with our associates to maintain accountable these who use unlawful suggests and legal actions to choose edge of other individuals.”

“Lying to get access to SBA’s pandemic reaction applications is not with no consequence,” said SBA OIG’s Jap Area Distinctive Agent in Cost Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite.  “Our office will aggressively go after evidence of wrongdoing and carry all those liable to justice.  I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our regulation enforcement partners for their devotion and pursuit of justice.”

This conviction was the final result of a joint investigation by Interior Income Service – Prison Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the SBA-Office environment of Inspector Standard. Assistant United States Attorneys Justin M. Keen and David Byron prosecuted the case.

Any one with data about allegations of tried fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s Countrywide Centre for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or by means of the NCDF Internet Criticism Type at: https://www.justice.gov/catastrophe-fraud/ncdf-catastrophe-criticism-variety.

Because President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Avoidance and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into law, the Section of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement steps in felony and civil circumstances that qualified or disproportionately influenced seniors. In particular, this past March the Office declared the premier elder fraud enforcement motion in American heritage, charging more than 400 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep.  The Division has similarly conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the state due to the fact the passage of the Act.  Learn more about the Justice Department’s Elder Justice and Countrywide Nursing Property Initiatives at http://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/.

The United States Attorney’s Place of work for the Northern District of Florida is one particular of 94 offices that provide as the nation’s principal litigators less than the path of the Attorney Standard. To accessibility general public court documents on the web, make sure you stop by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida internet site. For a lot more facts about the United States Attorney’s Workplace for the Northern District of Florida, check out http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.