US authorities have convicted Washington-based doctor Eric R. Shibley of fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million from two COVID-19 relief programs, namely the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
Shibley submitted several fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications in the names of businesses that did not have any legitimate operations or were not eligible for the loans. Moreover, Shibley hid his criminal history in the loan applications, while also falsifying the number and names of employees, the payroll expenses and the tax documents. As a result, he received over $2.8 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
As such, the authorities have convicted Shibley of multiple counts of wire fraud and bank fraud, as well as ML. Each count of wire fraud could result in a 20-year prison sentence, while each count of bank fraud could lead to 30 years in prison. Lastly, he could face up to 10 years in jail for ML.
Source: US Department of Justice