Two companies in California and their owners have agreed to pay more than $ 153,000 to resolve the accusations that they obtained loans from the Check Protection Program of Checkek (PPP) in a fraudulent way in violation of the law of false claims, federal officials announced on Friday.
JEV & B Services LLC and D4 Inc., together with the owners William Nelson and Vicki Rollins, allegedly presented false certifications and numbers of subraperated employees to obtain second -drag PPP loans for which they were not eligible, according to the United States Department of Justice.
The PPP, created in 2020 under Cares Law, was designed to help small businesses maintain the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second drag PPP loans were limited to companies with 300 or less employees, including affiliates.
The prosecutors said that Nelson and Rollins, who administered multiple affiliated companies, did not reveal these relationships and misrepresented employee counts in loans submitted on behalf of the Jev & B and D4 services.
The companies later had their forgiven loans.
As part of the civil agreement, the companies and their owners will pay $ 153,598.90, including the processing rates of the administration of small businesses, and have agreed to pay the PPP loans as a whole, eliminating any responsibility for the SBA under the guarantees of loans, prosecutors said.
The agreement also resolves the claims filed by complainant Ashwani Chawla under the provisions of the False Claims Law. Chawla will receive $ 11,519.92 of the agreement.