United States v. Francis J. Battista

Case summary

As proven at trial, between March 2020 and June 2021 Francis J. Battista, 39, of Aston, Pennsylvania, fraudulently applied for 19 PPP and EIDL loans seeking more than $10 million. He applied for one PPP loan in his own name, supported by fabricated documents. For the rest, he used other people's identities.¹

In one instance, Battista falsely renewed the Pennsylvania photo ID card of a deceased family friend, had it mailed to his house and used it to apply for a PPP loan.¹

Nine of the 19 applications were funded, and Battista received $8.4 million in PPP payments. He used the proceeds trying to buy waterfront property in Florida, purchasing a Range Rover, making risky stock trades that lost millions, and paying his children's private school tuition. The government has since seized $6.3 million of it back through forfeiture.¹

He was convicted on all charges: 12 counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and seven counts of money laundering. U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond remanded him into custody following the verdict; at the time of the announcement no sentencing date had been set.¹

Notes

1. U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, "Delaware County Man Convicted at Trial of Defrauding Pandemic Relief Programs of $8.4 Million" (original). ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃ ↩₄

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.