Information — United States v. Robert Brownstein (Middle District of Pennsylvania)

Summary

A criminal information filed September 23, 2022 in United States v. Robert Brownstein, Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Count 1 charges wire fraud conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1349, alleging that from on or about March 1, 2021 through on or about February 8, 2022 Brownstein and coconspirators used stolen identities to open accounts, make cards and identification documents, and obtain merchandise from Company #1. It states that PPP applications were submitted to Lender #1 and Lender #2 in the names of identity theft victims J.E. and J.T., each requesting $20,833 and claiming $148,905 in 2020 gross income. Count 2 charges aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A on or about April 22, 2021.

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Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page1of10

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Vv.
(Judge )
ROBERT BROWNSTEIN, :
Defendant :
INFORMATION

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHARGES:

COUNT 1
18 U.S.C. § 1349
(Wire Fraud Conspiracy)

is Introduction

At times material to the Information:

A. Relevant Individual & Entities

1. Defendant ROBERT BROWNSTEIN was a resident of
Lackawanna County, within the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Bs Company #1 was a retail company with operations in the
Middle District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

3. Lender #1 was a third-party participating lender in the
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

4. Lender #2 was a third-party participating lender in the PPP.
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page 2 of 10

B. The Paycheck Protection Program

5. The PPP was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program
administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that
provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and
certain other expenses. The PPP permitted participating third-party
lenders to approve and disburse SBA-backed PPP loans to cover payroll,
fixed debts, utilities, rent/mortgage, accounts payable and other bills
incurred by qualifying businesses during, and resulting from, the
COVID-19 pandemic. PPP loans were fully guaranteed by the SBA.

6. To obtain a PPP loan, a qualifying business had to submit a
PPP loan application, which was signed by an authorized
representative of the business. The PPP loan application required the
business (through its authorized representative) to acknowledge the
program rules and make certain affirmative certifications to be eligible
to obtain the PPP loan, including that the business was in operation
and either had employees for whom it paid salaries and payroll taxes or

paid independent contractors. A business applying for a PPP loan was
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page 3of10

required to provide documentation showing its payroll expenses, such
as filed federal income tax documents.

ts PPP loan applications were electronically submitted or
caused to be submitted by the borrower and received through SBA
servers located in Oregon. Once approved, the business received the
PPP loan proceeds via an electronic funds transfer from the third-party
lender to a financial account under the control of the business.

8. | The proceeds of a PPP loan could be used for certain
specified items, such as payroll costs, costs related to the continuation
of group health care benefits, or mortgage interest payments. The
proceeds of a PPP loan were not permitted to be used by the borrowers
to purchase consumer goods, automobiles, personal residences, clothing,
jewelry, to pay the borrower's personal federal income taxes, or to fund
the borrower’s ordinary day-to-day living expenses unrelated to the

specified authorized expenses.
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page4of10

II. Statutory Allegations

9. From on or about March 1, 2021, through on or about
February 8, 2022, in Luzerne County, within the Middle District of
Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, the defendant,

ROBERT BROWNSTEIN,

knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully combined, conspired,
confederated and agreed with other persons known and unknown to the
United States Attorney, to knowingly devise, and intend to devise, a
scheme and artifice to defraud Company #1, Lender #1, Lender #2, and
the SBA, and to obtain money and property by means of materially false
and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and for the
purpose of executing the scheme and artifice to defraud, transmitted
and caused to be transmitted by means of wire communication in
interstate commerce writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds, in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.
III. Manner and Means

The conspiracy was accomplished, in part, by the following

manner and means:
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page5of10

10. From on or about March 1, 2021, through on or about
February 8, 2022, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his coconspirators
obtained stolen identities and personal information of third-party
victims, using the internet and interstate wires.

11. From on or about March 1, 2021, through on or about
February 8, 2022, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his coconspirators
manufactured and caused to be manufactured, credit cards, debit cards,
and identification documents in the names of third party identity theft
victims.

12. From on or about March 1, 2021, through on or about
February 8, 2022, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his coconspirators
opened and caused to be opened accounts at financial institutions in the
names of third-party identity theft victims, through use of the internet
and interstate wires.

13. Onor about April 9, 2021, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his
coconspirators submitted and caused to be submitted to Lender #1 a
PPP loan application on behalf of identity theft victim J.E., through use

of the internet and interstate wires. The application requested

5
$20,833 and contained material misrepresentations, including that J.E.
operated a sole proprietorship with $148,905 in gross income for tax
year 2020, and that the PPP loan proceeds would be used for payroll,
lease, mortgage interest, and utilities expenses. The application
certified that the information provided was true, under penalty of law.
Included with the PPP loan application were false documents, including
an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Schedule C that represented falsely
that J.E.’s sole proprietorship had $148,905 in gross income and various
operational expenses for tax year 2020, when in fact the Schedule C was
never filed with the IRS.

14. Onor about April 17, 2021, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and
his coconspirators submitted and caused to be submitted to Lender #1 a
second PPP loan application on behalf of identity theft victim J.E.,
through use of the internet and interstate wires. The application
requested $20,833 and contained material misrepresentations,
including that J.E. operated a sole proprietorship with $148,905 in
gross income for tax year 2020, and that the PPP loan proceeds would

be used for payroll, lease, mortgage interest, and utilities expenses.

6
The application certified that the information provided was true, under
penalty of law. Included with the PPP loan application were false
documents, including an IRS Schedule C that represented falsely that
J.E.’s sole proprietorship had $148,905 in gross income and various
operational expenses for tax year 2020, when in fact the Schedule C was
never filed with the IRS.

15. Onor about April 22, 2021, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and
his coconspirators submitted and caused to be submitted to Lender #2 a
PPP loan application on behalf of identity theft victim J.T., through use
of the internet and interstate wires. The application requested
$20,833 and contained material misrepresentations, including that J.T.
operated a sole proprietorship with $148,905 in gross income for tax
year 2020, and that the PPP loan proceeds would be used for payroll,
lease, mortgage interest, and utilities expenses. The application
certified that the information provided was true, under penalty of law.
Included with the PPP loan application were false documents, including
an IRS Schedule C that represented falsely that J.T.’s sole

proprietorship had $148,905 in gross income and various operational

7
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page 8 of 10

expenses for tax year 2020, when in fact the Schedule C was never filed
with the IRS. Also included were photographs of ROBERT
BROWNSTEIN, in the name of J.T., and a forged identification
document bearing ROBERT BROWNSTEIN’s photograph but the name
of J.T.

16. Between on or about April 2021 and May 2021, ROBERT
BROWNSTEIN and his coconspirators, by means of material
misrepresentations to Lender #1 and Lender #2, obtained and caused to
be obtained PPP loans that were deposited and transferred into bank
accounts under the conspirators’ control, through use of the internet
and interstate wires.

17. Inor about January 2022, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his
coconspirators submitted and caused to be submitted to Company #1
credit applications in the names of third-party identity theft victims,
through use of the internet and interstate wires.

18. Inor about January 2022, ROBERT BROWNSTEIN and his

coconspirators obtained merchandise from Company #1, using credit
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page 9of10

cards, debit cards, and identification documents in the names of third-
party identity theft victims.

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.
Case 3:22-cr-00336-RDM Document1 Filed 09/23/22 Page 10 of 10

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FURTHER CHARGES:
COUNT 2
18 U.S.C. § 1028A
(Aggravated Identify Theft)
19. Onor about April 22, 2021, in Luzerne County, within the
Middle District of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, the defendant,
ROBERT BROWNSTEIN,
aiding and abetting others, knowingly transferred, possessed, and used,
without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person
during and in relation to a felony violation enumerated in Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1028A(c), namely wire fraud conspiracy, in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, knowing that
the means of identification belonged to another actual person.
In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2 and
1028A(a)(1).

GERARD M. KARAM
United States Attorney

Date: 4/03/09 By: OO
-_, PHILLIP J. CARABALLO
Assistant United States Attorney

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