California Man Pleads Responsible to Defrauding CARES Act Packages and Industrial Lenders

A California man, Craig David Davis, 49, of Venice, has pleaded responsible to wire fraud costs within the Japanese District of Virginia. Davis admitted to defrauding a number of Coronavirus Support, Reduction, and Financial Safety (CARES) Act packages, together with the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) and the Principal Road Lending Program (MSLP), of greater than $10 million.

Davis, the proprietor of Vibrant Vanguard LLC, which he falsely introduced as a authentic pc {hardware} retailer and cupboard space supplier, submitted fraudulent mortgage purposes underneath these packages in 2020. Based on courtroom paperwork, Davis falsely claimed that Vibrant Vanguard had substantial gross sales and employed as many as 17 people. In actuality, Vibrant Vanguard had no staff and generated no authentic income. To help his fraudulent claims, Davis offered banks with falsified tax returns, payroll paperwork, and monetary statements.

Along with the CARES Act fraud, Davis additionally confessed to his involvement in a years-long scheme to defraud industrial tools lenders. This scheme concerned directing enterprise homeowners to submit mortgage purposes for buying pc tools, supported by invoices from corporations like Vibrant Vanguard. After the lenders accepted the loans and disbursed the funds, Davis and his co-conspirators stored a portion of the proceeds whereas remitting the bulk to the debtors. No tools was really offered, regardless of what was proven on the fraudulent invoices. This scheme resulted in over $60 million in fraudulently induced lending throughout greater than 350 separate loans.

Davis is scheduled for sentencing on December 12, 2024. He faces a most penalty of 20 years in jail. The ultimate sentence might be decided by a federal district courtroom decide, who will take into account the U.S. Sentencing Tips and different statutory elements.

The announcement of Davis’s responsible plea was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Lawyer Normal Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Division’s Legal Division, and U.S. Lawyer Jessica D. Aber for the Japanese District of Virginia. The investigation was led by the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company Workplace of Inspector Normal (FDIC OIG) Mid-Atlantic Area, the Division of the Treasury’s Particular Inspector Normal for Pandemic Restoration, and IRS Legal Investigation (IRS-CI).

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Lawyer David A. Peters of the Legal Division’s Fraud Part, together with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Drew Bradylyons and Katherine Robeson for the Japanese District of Virginia, with substantial help from the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Maryland.



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