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A man from Florida drained $1.1 million from the US government after faking a mountain of business losses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The agency says 44-year old Sean Eric Thompson has pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts for orchestrating a scheme defrauded the US Small Business Administration (SBA) as well as the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Court documents reveal that Thompson, who partially owned a restaurant and brewery, received the million-plus dollars after submitting a fraudulent Restaurant Revitalization Fund application to the Small Business Association during Covid-19.
The RRF was a fund created by the government to help keep restaurants, bars and other businesses that served food and drink stay open during the pandemic.
The DOJ says Thompson didn’t actually suffer the losses and transferred a substantial amount of the payout to his investment accounts.
The agency says Thompson then filed a Chapter 7 voluntary bankruptcy petition, omitted information or provided false information and then lied under oath about the matter.
Thompson has been convicted of wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, making false statements and money laundering. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
