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March 22, 2022

Man Pleads Guilty for His Involvement in a Multi-Million Dollar PPP Loan Fraud Scheme

On January 4, 2022, in the Northern District of Georgia, Mark Mason pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. Mason, along with 21 other individuals residing across the United States, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to obtain approximately $3,899,377 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The CARES Act was enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPP was a source of relief through the CARES Act that provided forgivable loans to small businesses for payroll, mortgage interest, rent/lease, and utilities. From April 2020 through August 2020, the conspirators allegedly submitted or assisted in the submission of PPP loan applications on behalf of 22 businesses.

According to the court documents, on or about April 7, 2020, Mason submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application for his business. The PPP loan application listed the average monthly payroll and number of employees, and listed the purpose of the loan as payroll and lease/mortgage interest. Along with the PPP loan application, for each quarter of 2019, Mason submitted erroneous Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. However, in 2019, Mason’s business neither made tax filings with nor paid unemployment tax to the IRS, nor withheld Federal income tax for any employee. Based on the fraudulent submissions, a financial institution paid Mason approximately $99,000 in PPP loan funds.

Mason also completed and submitted to financial institutions, fraudulent PPP borrower application forms and fabricated IRS Forms 941 on behalf of others, including IRS Supervisory Individual Tax Advisory Specialist Melissa Myrick. For his work on the loan applications, Mason received a percentage of the funded loan amount as a “success fee” from each purported business owner.

As part of the guilty plea Mason agreed to pay full restitution plus applicable interest, and a $200 special assessment fee. He will also forfeit, to the United States, any proceeds from and property involved in the commission of the offenses to include $121,366.93. At sentencing, Mason could receive more than 20 years’ imprisonment.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: N.D. Ga., Plea Agr., filed January 4, 2022; DOJ Press Release published February 1, 2022; N.D. Ga., Crim. Information, filed October 18, 2021; and N.D. Ga., Indict., filed December 15, 2021.