Bernard Turk PPP fraud case — U.S. District Court, C.D. Cal.

Case summary

Bernard Turk was charged by information in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 8:22-cr-00061, with wire fraud and aiding and abetting over a Paycheck Protection Program loan application. The information, filed May 9, 2022, states that Turk, a certified public accountant running a tax preparation business, prepared a false 2019 corporate tax return for Agency 126 claiming $5,383,401 in wages during 2019 and gave it to co-schemer Mustafa Qadiri to submit to an SBA-approved lender, and that Agency 126 had no employees and paid no wages. It states that $1,212,312 in PPP loan proceeds was transmitted by interstate wire on or about February 25, 2021. A judgment and probation/commitment order was entered November 21, 2022. The imposed terms are not in the extracted text of that judgment.

Case at a glance

What does the judgment on this page show?

The CR-104 judgment and probation/commitment order signed November 21, 2022 by Judge Josephine L. Staton. The pages carrying the counts and the imposed term are not in the extracted text; the pages that are show the surrender date, the standard conditions and the court's recommendation that Turk be placed in a Bureau of Prisons medical facility.

What was Turk charged with?

One count of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and aiding and abetting under 18 U.S.C. § 2(a), for causing the transmission of $1,212,312 in PPP loan proceeds from the lender to Agency 126's bank account.

What did the defense ask for?

Leniency. A supplement to Turk's sentencing brief, filed November 11, 2022, reports the Bureau of Prisons' response that it can accommodate him in a Medical Care Level 3 or 4 center, and argues that the nearest such facility is far from his family.

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