A former Miami-Dade County police officer who was also a business owner submitted fraudulent applications to obtain a loan from a COVID-19 relief program and will now spend time in jail after being sentenced by a Miami judge.
The United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida reported that Samuel Harris, 43, was sentenced to four months in prison, followed by another four months of house arrest, three years of supervised release and restitution of $285,479.
Harris, who was an officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. after pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent applications for a Credit Program loan. Paycheck Protection (PPP), an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”), and an EIDL advance.
According to facts admitted at the change of plea hearing on July 3, Harris, also was owner and president of Oregen Digital, Inc. Working with an associate, on June 29, 2020, he submitted a PPP loan application stating falsely that Oregen had 10 employees and a monthly payroll of more than $50,000 per month.
In support of the application, Harris submitted a fraudulent IRS Form W-3 falsely claiming that Oregen had paid 10 employees more than $602,000 in wages during 2019.
As a result of this false and fraudulent application, Harris obtained a $125,579 PPP loan from a Georgia financial institution. PPP lender approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Harris also admitted that on June 30, 2020, he caused a false and fraudulent EIDL application to be submitted to the SBA in the name of Oregen, seeking both an EIDL and an EIDL advance.
In this application, Harris falsely claimed that during the 12-month period prior to January 31, 2020, Oregen had gross receipts of more than $859,000 and 10 employees. As a result of this request, the company obtained a $10,000 EIDL advance from the SBA that did not need to be repaid and $149,900 in EIDL loan proceeds, according to authorities.
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He CARES Act PPP Program allowed small businesses and other qualified organizations to receive loans with a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1%. PPP loan proceeds had to be used by businesses on payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities.
The PPP allowed for forgiveness of PPP loan interest and principal if the business spent the loan funds on these expenses within a designated time period after receiving the funds and used at least a certain percentage of the PPP loan funds. in payroll expenses.
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2023-12-12 19:08:37
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