Leland man sentenced to prison after applying for COVID relief money for fake company
LELAND, NC (WWAY) — A Leland man has been sentenced to prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Joseph Alexander Casillas will spend six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for the crime.
He was also ordered to pay $92,734 in criminal restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Casillas fraudulently applied for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in March and April 2021 for a company that didn’t exist.
The PPP program was created by the CARES Act in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to American small businesses that were suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the PPP program, businesses could apply for forgivable loans to retain jobs and pay certain qualifying expenses.
Casillas submitted two false and fraudulent PPP loan applications, each of which requested over $20,000. In the applications, Casillas falsely stated he was the sole proprietor of a longstanding trucking business that was incurring nearly $100,000 in annual payroll costs. Among other things, to substantiate his claims, Casillas provided the lender with a fraudulent 2019 tax record.
