Boston food truck owner gets 2 years in prison for $1.5M pandemic relief loan fraud

Also: Brighton Food Truck Business Owner Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for $1.5 Million COVID-Relief Fraud Scheme (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts)

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Source: Associated Press

Food truck owner gets 2 years in prison for $1.5M pandemic relief loan fraud

Updated 2:14 PM EDT, July 26, 2023

BOSTON (AP) — The owner of a Massachusetts food truck business has been sentenced to two years in prison for fraudulently obtaining about $1.5 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic relief loans — money that he used to invest in the stock market.

Loc Vo owned Smart Gourmet LLC, a food truck business in Massachusetts, as well as a company called Indy Publish, federal prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday

The Boston man submitted loan applications between April 2020 and July 2021 on behalf of the businesses under three Small Business Administration pandemic relief programs, requesting about $1.5 million that was intended to be used for rent, mortgage interest, payroll and utilities, among other eligible expenses, prosecutors said.

Loc, 56, then transferred most of the money to brokerage accounts in his own name so he could invest in several businesses, including an electric car manufacturer, an internet marketplace company and a biotechnology company, federal prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/food-trucks-pandemic-relief-fraud-1f35a3b9da7aa35aba7695fcd5ccdeea

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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

Brighton Food Truck Business Owner Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for $1.5 Million COVID-Relief Fraud Scheme

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – The owner of a Massachusetts-based food truck business was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for filing fraudulent loan applications in order to obtain $1.5 million in pandemic relief under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act.

Loc Vo, 56, of Brighton, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to two years in prison and two years of supervised release. Vo was also ordered to pay $1,516,606 in restitution and forfeiture. Vo pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January 2023.

Vo owned Smart Gourmet LLC (Smart Gourmet), a food truck business in Massachusetts, and Indy Publish, a dormant Maryland company. Between April 2020 and July 2021, Vo submitted loan applications on behalf of these businesses under three Small Business Administration pandemic relief programs: the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund . In these applications, Vo requested approximately $1.5 million and committed to use the funds for rent, mortgage interest, payroll and utilities, among other eligible expenses.

After receiving the relief funds, Vo immediately transferred most of them to brokerage accounts in his name to purchase shares in an electric car manufacturer, an internet marketplace company and a biotechnology company, among others.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain approved expenses, through the PPP. Another is the EIDL, through which the SBA offers loans that can only be used on certain permissible business expenses, which can include payment of fixed business debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other business-related expenses that could have been paid had the COVID-19 disaster not occurred. The American Rescue Plan Act established the RRF to provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open through forgivable loans for eligible uses.

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/brighton-food-truck-business-owner-sentenced-two-years-prison-15-million-covid-relief