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A San Fernando Valley man was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in federal prison for receiving $ 655,000 in paycheck protection program loans by filing fake tax documents and false employee information.
Steven R. Goldstein, 37, of Northridge, was also sentenced to a refund of the same amount, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Last December, Goldstein pleaded guilty to a single federal charge of fraud in connection with major catastrophes or emergency relief.
Goldstein’s business partner Raymond Magana, 40, of Santa Clarita, pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining PPP loans in January and is expected to be convicted next month.
Prosecutors say Goldstein applied for four different PPP loans from Bank of America on behalf of various companies, totaling more than $ 1.2 million, using fake tax documents and false employee information.
Two of these PPP loans were eventually approved, and Goldstein’s companies received a total of $ 655,000 in PPP loans.
On the same day the funds were issued to Goldstein’s company, prosecutors said he transferred more than half of the money to his personal bank accounts.
In total, Goldstein and Magana filed more than five separate PPP business loans totaling more than $ 2.5 million with various banks, according to documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
The PPP loan program was launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and is designed to enable entrepreneurs to keep workers on their payroll.
Northridge man sentenced to prison for defrauding COVID-19 relief program was last changed: 14.09.2021 from
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