Million Man LLC Took Its PPP Applications to Three Banks on Falsified Tax and Payroll Records

The complaint, unsealed in February 2021, alleged Johnson submitted multiple applications for Million Man to at least three financial institutions. It said they contained numerous false and misleading statements about Million Man's business and operations, including its number of employees and average monthly payroll. To back up the claims, Johnson submitted falsified federal tax documents and payroll records.¹

Neither the charging announcement nor the sentencing release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York states a loan amount, a number of loans funded, or a restitution order. The case drew four federal agencies into the investigation: the FDIC's Office of Inspector General, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the FBI's Buffalo field office, and the SBA's Office of Inspector General.¹²

Johnson was charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and false statements to a financial institution. He was convicted of wire fraud. In May 2023, U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. sentenced him to 30 months in prison.²

Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Rudroff, who handled the case for the Western District of New York, prosecuted alongside Trial Attorneys Joshua N. DeBold, Matthew Reilly, and Jennifer Bilinkas from the Justice Department's Criminal Division Fraud Section. Per its own count, that unit had already prosecuted more than 100 PPP defendants across 70-plus cases by the time Johnson was first charged.¹

Documents cited

Notes

1. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York, "Buffalo Man Charged With COVID Relief Fraud" (original), February 19, 2021; Department of Justice, "Man Charged with COVID-Relief Fraud" (original), February 19, 2021. ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃ ↩₄
2. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York, "Buffalo Man Going To Prison For COVID Relief Fraud" (original), May 4, 2023. ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃