Rockport man faces up to 30 years, $1M fine for PPP loan fraud
A Rockport man faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to a scheme in which he bilked the federal government of more than $1 million, using part of his ill-gotten gains for a down payment on a sailboat and other luxuries.
Mark X. Haley II, 42, filed nine bogus Paycheck Protection Program loan applications at two banks for businesses he controlled, according to court records. Haley is accused of listing false employee and payroll information on each application and submitting fraudulent documents to support the false information to the banks. The documentation included fake federal employment tax returns, false timesheets and falsified bank records.
"As a result of the scheme, Haley fraudulently obtained $1,010,581 in PPP funds," according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine.
The Internal Revenue Service investigated the case.
Haley will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office is completed. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Haley also faces up to five years of supervised release.
“While many legitimate businesses used PPP loans to keep their businesses afloat, Mark Haley, motivated by personal greed, set his sails on a scheme to obtain lavish luxuries,” said Special Agent in Charge Joleen Simpson of the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Boston Field Office. “Today’s plea should serve as a stark reminder that criminals, such as Haley, will be held accountable for their misdeeds.”
The Paycheck Protection Plan was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business Administration that provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and other expenses. The PPP allowed participating third-party lenders to approve and disburse SBA-backed loans to cover payroll, fixed debts, utilities, rent/mortgage, accounts payable and other bills incurred by qualifying businesses during, and resulting from, the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP loans were fully guaranteed by the SBA.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments