{"id":57483,"date":"2024-09-12T15:51:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T22:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57483"},"modified":"2024-09-12T15:51:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T22:51:05","slug":"l-a-businessman-pays-800000-to-settle-alleged-improper-covid-19-relief-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57483","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Businessman Pays $800,000 to Settle Alleged Improper COVID-19 Relief Loans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13095 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/U.S.-Small-Business-Administration-300x131.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"131\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/U.S.-Small-Business-Administration-300x131.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/U.S.-Small-Business-Administration.jpeg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Federal officials stated Thursday that Yosef Y. Manela, a Los Angeles businessman who runs an accounting, law, and consulting firm, has agreed to pay $802,341 to the U.S. to settle claims that he and his three companies violated the False Claims Act related to six Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Authorities say Manela and his companies will also repay all outstanding PPP loans, relieving the Small Business Administration (SBA) of liability for a federal guarantee of about $728,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cEvery taxpayer dollar lost to unscrupulous individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic is money that failed to reach businesses struggling for survival,\u201d said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. \u201cIt is important that we uphold the integrity of pandemic-related assistance programs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3918 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png\" alt=\"Two Men Arrested for Allegedly Operating One of the Largest Synthetic Drug Smuggling Rings\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Department-of-Justice.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The PPP, created by Congress in March 2020 under the CARES Act, aimed to support small businesses with employee wages and other expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Borrowers had to certify their eligibility for the loan and confirm that the funds would be used for approved expenses, including payroll and utilities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In December 2020, Congress authorized a &#8220;second draw&#8221; of PPP loans, available from January 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36165 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-270x270.png 270w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-192x192.png 192w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-180x180.png 180w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom-32x32.png 32w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cropped-Courtroom.png 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The U.S. alleged that Manela and his companies received six PPP loans based on duplicate payroll expenses and non-existent employees. They also reportedly disguised capital distributions to family members as wages in loan and forgiveness applications, leading to losses for the SBA from processing fees and loan guarantees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv3909065755MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">\u201cThe favorable settlement in this case is the product of enhanced efforts by federal agencies such as the Small Business Administration working with the Department of Justice, SBA\u2019s Office of Inspector General and other Federal law enforcement agencies, to address fraud on the PPP,\u201d said General Counsel Therese Meers of the SBA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES Federal officials stated Thursday that Yosef Y. Manela, a Los Angeles businessman who runs an accounting, law, and consulting firm, has agreed to pay $802,341 to the U.S. to settle&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>L.A. Businessman Pays $800,000 to Settle Alleged Improper COVID-19 Relief Loans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES Federal officials stated Thursday that Yosef Y. 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