A high-flying California businessman, Sean Winston, CEO of the not-so-bustling Atlas Capital Management, LLC, has admitted to swindling nearly a million bucks through COVID-19 relief programs, according to federal court documents. The exec copped to the scam that netted his shell company a cool $875,900 from loan programs meant to aid small businesses slammed by the pandemic, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego reported.
Winston's plea deal lifted the veil on a facade of fabricated bank statements and false payroll records he cooked up to deceive lenders into thinking his firm was legit—all the while Atlas Capital Management was more a phantom than a financial powerhouse, according to officials. In a scheme as audacious as it was deceitful, Winston pocketed the dough for personal indulgences like a 2021 Lamborghini Urus and a 2018 Rolls Royce Dawn, not to mention splurging on a 2020 Corvette and a 2021 Cadillac Escalade, which were seized along with cold hard cash by Feds on September 28.
Winston took advantage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act"). A financial lifeline passed on March 27, 2020 to provide over $2 trillion in economic salvation for those battered by the COVID-19 health crisis. Tapping into the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") juices and Economic Injury Disaster Loans ("EIDL"), Winston's fabrications allowed him to live large on a loan forgiven by the SBA and EIDL funds destined to be a balm for ailing businesses, whilst his 'business' existed only on paper.
Slated for a reckoning before U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes on March 4, 2024, Winston now faces a potential 30-year prison stint and a fine up to $1 million for wire fraud, according to the Justice Department. The case under the vigilant eye of Homeland Security Investigations is prosecuted by the steadfast Assistant U.S. Attorneys E. Christopher Beeler and Carl F. Brooker, IV.
For further details and the wrath of justice served cold, media inquiries can be directed to Kelly Thornton, the Media Relations Director; just knock on the digital door at [email protected] or take a dive into the case files at the Department of Justice's official website.
