FLORIDA
Two Florida men were sentenced Friday for leading a nationwide scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for millions of dollars in loans guaranteed, officials announced Monday.
The PPP is under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
A U.S. District Court Judge in Ohio sentenced Phillip J. Augustin, 53, of Coral Springs, to Six years and six months in prison, and James Stote, 56, of Hollywood, to 10 years in prison, officials stated.
Stote and Augustin each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Dec. 14, 2021.
According to court documents, Augustin and Stote obtained a fraudulent PPP loan for Augustin’s company, Clear Vision Music Group LLC, using falsified documents.
After submitting that application, Stote and Augustin immediately began trying to illicitly obtain larger PPP loans for themselves and their associates.
Stote and Augustin recruited additional PPP loan applicants and prepared and submitted fraudulent loan applications for them in exchange for a share of the loan proceeds. Augustin used his network of business contacts as a manager for professional football players to recruit loan applicants.
The applications they submitted for these loans relied on fake payroll numbers, falsified IRS forms, and phony bank statements. Stote submitted or facilitated at least 79 fraudulent loan applications worth at least $35 million.
Among those loans, Augustin was responsible for at least 34 fraudulent loan applications worth at least $15 million.
In addition to his prison sentence, Stote was ordered to serve three years of supervised released and pay more than $10.1 million in restitution and more than $1.1 million in forfeiture.
Augustin was ordered to pay more than $5.9 million in restitution and more than $272,000 in forfeiture.
In total, 25 people have been charged for their participation in this scheme in Florida and North Carolina.