Florida man got $4.5 million from COVID-19 PPP fraud, then lost $3 million — and freedom
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COVID-19 loan fraud in South Florida
South Florida, long known as the nation’s capital of fraud schemes, has incurred more than 140 PPP criminal cases over the past three years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Here are a few.
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A man who calls both New York and West Palm Beach home proved to be better at fraud than trading stocks.
For the next three years and three months, 35-year-old Gregory Blotnick will call federal prison home after his sentencing in Newark federal court on one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Blotnick is also stuck with $4,577,631 in restitution, the amount of COVID-19 relief funds he fraudulently obtained.
Starting soon after the government began the CARES Paycheck Protection Plan to help businesses suffering from the pandemic, Blotnick submitted 21 fraudulent PPP loan applications from April 2020 through March 2021 for nine businesses that he controlled, according to court files.
He lied about the number of employees the businesses had, the federal tax filings and payroll. Blotnick tried to get $6.8 million and came away with the aforementioned, $4,577,631.
The last line of the criminal complaint states: “In total, Blotnick transferred at least approximately $3 million in PPP loans funded for Blotnick’s businesses to the Blotnick Brokerage Account. Blotnick then used this money to trade stocks, and in doing so, lost approximately all $3 million.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Florida man got $4.5 million from COVID-19 PPP fraud, then lost $3 million — and freedom."
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