A California man, Craig David Davis, 49, of Venice, has pleaded responsible to wire fraud costs within the Jap District of Virginia. Davis admitted to defrauding a number of Coronavirus Help, Aid, and Financial Safety (CARES) Act applications, together with the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) and the Predominant Avenue Lending Program (MSLP), of greater than $10 million.
Davis, the proprietor of Shiny Vanguard LLC, which he falsely introduced as a respectable pc {hardware} retailer and space for storing supplier, submitted fraudulent mortgage purposes underneath these applications in 2020. In response to courtroom paperwork, Davis falsely claimed that Shiny Vanguard had substantial gross sales and employed as many as 17 people. In actuality, Shiny Vanguard had no workers and generated no respectable income. To assist 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 business gear lenders. This scheme concerned directing enterprise homeowners to submit mortgage purposes for buying pc gear, supported by invoices from corporations like Shiny Vanguard. After the lenders accepted 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 might be decided by a federal district courtroom decide, who will contemplate the U.S. Sentencing Tips and different statutory elements.
The announcement of Davis’s responsible plea was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Lawyer Common Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Division’s Felony Division, and U.S. Lawyer Jessica D. Aber for the Jap District of Virginia. The investigation was led by the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company Workplace of Inspector Common (FDIC OIG) Mid-Atlantic Area, the Division of the Treasury’s Particular Inspector Common for Pandemic Restoration, and IRS Felony Investigation (IRS-CI).
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Lawyer David A. Peters of the Felony 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. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Maryland.