{"id":50118,"date":"2022-06-23T11:35:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T18:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118"},"modified":"2022-06-23T11:35:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T18:35:13","slug":"eight-southern-californians-charged-in-7-million-loan-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118","title":{"rendered":"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and pre-pandemic Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to court documents, beginning in or around January 2018, the following defendants were engaged in conspiracies to apply for loans on behalf of their respective businesses:<\/span><\/p>\n

Frank Hamilton, 52, of Simi Valley, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Jones, 55, of Azusa, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Tina Chen, 39, of Diamond Bar, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Kenny Tran, 38, of Diamond Bar, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Park, 37, of Northridge, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter An, 37, of Chatsworth, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Greco, 42, of Simi Valley, California<\/span><\/p>\n

Edwin Bonilla, 36, of Los Angeles, California<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"In exchange for fees, Hamilton, Jones, and others made the businesses appear to be functioning companies with operations and employees by creating fake documents, including fake bank statements and fictitious tax documents for the businesses. <\/span><\/p>\n

One conspirator provided a script for other conspirators to use in calls with lenders. The conspirators allegedly obtained over $7 million in PPP, EIDL, and SBA loans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Court documents further allege that the conspirators followed so-called \u201cforgiveness plans\u201d that directed them to transfer the fraud proceeds as purported payroll payments for each of the companies that obtained PPP funds. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"These \u201cforgiveness plans\u201d were designed to disguise the proceeds as payroll payments and make it appear that the loan recipient was meeting the SBA requires that a percentage of the PPP funds be used for payroll, thus increasing the likelihood that the loan recipient would qualify for loan forgiveness. <\/span><\/p>\n

At Hamilton\u2019s direction, Jones, Chen, Tran, Park, An, Greco, and Bonilla wired the disguised fraud proceeds to a bank account in the name of a dormant company Hamilton controlled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hamilton, Jones, Chen, Tran, Park, An, Greco, and Bonilla are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

This case was investigated by the SBA-OIG, IRS-CI, HSI\u2019s Philadelphia Field Office, and the FBI\u2019s Philadelphia Field Office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trial Attorneys David A. Stier and Patrick B. Gushue of the Criminal Division\u2019s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Judy G. Smith of the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across the government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0For more information on the department\u2019s response to the pandemic, please visit https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/coronavirus<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice\u2019s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866 720 5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at\u00a0https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/disaster-fraud\/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and pre-pandemic Small Business Administration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"\nEight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Federal Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118\",\"name\":\"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=50118#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"width\":480,\"height\":275},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme","description":"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme","og_description":"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":275,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme","datePublished":"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118"},"wordCount":503,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","articleSection":["Federal Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118","name":"Eight Southern Californians Charged in $7 Million Loan Fraud Scheme","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","datePublished":"2022-06-23T18:35:13+00:00","description":"Eight defendants were charged in Pennsylvania Thursday with scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $7 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50118#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","width":480,"height":275},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50119,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50118\/revisions\/50119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}