CHICAGO (CBS) — An Addison businessman has been indicted on fraud and money laundering charges, accused of conspiring with a California man to fraudulently obtain more than $6.3 million in COVID pandemic-era federal loans.
Francesco Distefano, 28, has been charged with 11 counts of bank fraud, five counts of money laundering and one count of knowingly making a false statement to a bank.
Sargis Urumieh, 57, of Glendale, California, has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud.
Federal prosecutors said the two forged loan applications were intended to obtain Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) loans for Distefano’s company, Distefano Enterprises LLC, and two companies where Urumieh served as a corporate officer . The applications misrepresented the companies’ operations, including the number of people they employed, their gross revenues and payroll costs.
In total, the couple received four PPP loans of approximately $1.1 million, $1.4 million, $1.7 million and $2 million, and an EIDL loan of approximately $160,000.
According to the allegations, Distefano used money from the loans to purchase luxury cars, including a Lamborghini Huracan, Maserati Ghibli and Porsche 911. Distefano and Urumieh also allegedly used money from the loans and a fraudulent mortgage application to obtain a $765,000 loan to obtain. buy a house in California.
No hearings have yet been scheduled for the two men. If convicted, they could face 20 years in prison on each count of bank fraud and money laundering, and up to 30 years on the false statement count.
