US authorities have charged Florida-based tax preparer Barrie J. Osborne for fraudulently obtaining over $7.3 million in loans from various government schemes and laundering the illicit proceeds. Osborne is charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Starting in January 2018, Osborne conspired with eight California-based people to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Small Business Administration (SBA) loans on behalf of their respective businesses. These businesses were either dormant or had limited operations. Osborne charged the co-conspirators to make their businesses appear to be functional with employees. He generated fake bank statements and tax documents to do so. The defendant and co-conspirators ultimately managed to fraudulently secure $7.3 million from these loan schemes.
Osborne then directed the co-conspirators to transfer the illicit proceeds disguised as payroll expenses. This way, it seemed that the beneficiaries were meeting the SBA requirement that a percentage of the PPP funds be used for payroll. This increased the chances of the beneficiaries qualifying for loan forgiveness.
Source: US Department of Justice