The Boston pizza chain owner already on the hook for alleged forced labor is now facing fresh charges of cooking up a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Stavros Papantoniadis, known to some as "Steve," has been slapped with two counts of wire fraud, with the feds claiming he lied to get his hands on a nearly $500k disaster loan for a business he had already sold.
The indictment alleges that between November 2021 and January 2022, Papantoniadis applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan under the pretense that he still owned Boston Pizza Company in Randolph, Mass. He had sold the joint in April 2021, as revealed by the Secretary of State's cancellation of the associated LLC. Despite this, the SBA was led to believe Papantoniadis was still at the helm, with 18 employees under his wing, according to official court documents.
U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy laid out the accusations, saying that Papantoniadis received a hefty sum of $499,900 from the SBA under false pretenses. The man pleaded not guilty to these earlier charges and is biding time for a May 20 showdown in court.
The topping of legal troubles for Papantoniadis could become a heavy load, with the wire fraud counts alone carrying up to 20 years in the slammer, supervised release of up to five years, and fines that could sap another $250,000 from his bank account. The forced labor allegations are equally as severe, promising similar prison stints, and monetary penalties, each. Sentences await the measure of a federal district court judge.
Behind the scenes of this legal drama, Homeland Security Investigations' Michael J. Krol and the Department of Labor's Jonathan Mellone teamed with Levy to make the charging announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy E. Moran and Brian A. Fogerty are champing at the bit to prosecute the case. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, created by the Attorney General back in May 2021, is steadfast in its crusade to crush pandemic-related fraud and ensure relief funds reach the rightful recipients.
