California Man Pleads Responsible to Defrauding CARES Act Applications and Business Lenders
A California man, Craig David Davis, 49, of Venice, has pleaded responsible to wire fraud expenses within the Jap District of Virginia. Davis admitted to defrauding a number of Coronavirus Assist, Reduction, and Financial Safety (CARES) Act applications, together with the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) and the Fundamental Avenue Lending Program (MSLP), of greater than $10 million.
Davis, the proprietor of Vibrant Vanguard LLC, which he falsely introduced as a authentic laptop {hardware} retailer and space for storing supplier, submitted fraudulent mortgage functions beneath these applications in 2020. Based on courtroom paperwork, Davis falsely claimed that Vibrant Vanguard had substantial gross sales and employed as many as 17 people. In actuality, Vibrant Vanguard had no staff and generated no authentic income. To help his fraudulent claims, Davis offered banks with falsified tax returns, payroll paperwork, and monetary statements.
Along with the CARES Act fraud, Davis additionally confessed to his involvement in a years-long scheme to defraud industrial gear lenders. This scheme concerned directing enterprise homeowners to submit mortgage functions for buying laptop gear, supported by invoices from corporations like Vibrant Vanguard. After the lenders accredited the loans and disbursed the funds, Davis and his co-conspirators saved a portion of the proceeds whereas remitting the bulk to the debtors. No gear was truly offered, regardless of what was proven on the fraudulent invoices. This scheme resulted in over $60 million in fraudulently induced lending throughout greater than 350 separate loans.
Davis is scheduled for sentencing on December 12, 2024. He faces a most penalty of 20 years in jail. The ultimate sentence shall be decided by a federal district courtroom decide, who will think about the U.S. Sentencing Pointers and different statutory elements.
The announcement of Davis’s responsible plea was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Legal professional Basic Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Division’s Prison Division, and U.S. Legal professional Jessica D. Aber for the Jap District of Virginia. The investigation was led by the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company Workplace of Inspector Basic (FDIC OIG) Mid-Atlantic Area, the Division of the Treasury’s Particular Inspector Basic for Pandemic Restoration, and IRS Prison Investigation (IRS-CI).
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Legal professional David A. Peters of the Prison Division’s Fraud Part, together with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Drew Bradylyons and Katherine Robeson for the Jap District of Virginia, with substantial help from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Maryland.
