A man from Boca Raton, Florida, Fredrick Mendez, 45, has been sentenced to a prison term of 41 months and is facing three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud for stealing COVID-19 relief funds. As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Mendez was also ordered to pay back a substantial sum, specifically $1,589,565.75 in restitution. Mendez's fraudulent activities were connected to false representations he made in applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL), both integral parts of the CARES Act, which was designed to aid small businesses impacted by the pandemic.
The plea agreement detailed how Mendez submitted fraudulent EIDL and PPP applications from approximately March 2020 through November 2021 for various business entities including SkyWorth Technical Solutions Inc., Northern Technology Inc., along with Acumen Energy Group Inc., and Acumen Holding Group, LLC, in these applications, he misrepresented critical information such as the number of employees gross revenues, and cost of goods sold while also falsely certifying the accuracy of this information and the intended use of the funds which instead of serving business needs were primarily funneled toward personal expenses, according to U.S. Department of Justice.
"This defendant lied and stole government funds meant to help people struggling in the COVID-19 pandemic," said U.S. Attorney Matt Kirsch, signaling the serious nature of these crimes during a period of national distress, while Marc DellaSala, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Denver Field Office, emphasized that the sentence and forfeiture should "serve as another strong deterrent against pandemic-related fraud." DellaSala also stressed the ongoing commitment of law enforcement to pursue criminals exploiting government aid programs at the expense of small businesses and families in need, as noted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews was responsible for sentencing the defendant following an investigation led by the United States Secret Service, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Cassidy handling the prosecution the broader context of this case ties to the Department of Justice’s establishment of COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams, which are dedicated to combating large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud and ensuring that those responsible for multiple instances of such fraud are held accountable, the District of Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office was selected to head one of five national strike force teams as announced on July 11, 2023, for further information about the efforts of the COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force, the public is prompted to visit the Department of Justice's official website.
