Derek James Acree, 47, of Palm Beach County, Fla., Was Sentenced Today to 41 Months in Prison (Miami)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida published 2023-01-04, "Attorney Derek Acree Sentenced to Prison for $1.6 Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud". It announces that Derek James Acree, 47, of Palm Beach County, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.26 million in restitution and $1.6 million in asset forfeiture, after a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October 2022. The release states that he obtained approximately $1.6 million through EIDL and PPP applications for companies he owned in whole or part, including National Financial Holdings Inc., NFH Florida LLC, DBA Finova Financial LLC and National Financial Holding Technology LLC, that misrepresented employees, payroll and revenues. It states that he used part of the money as a down payment on his home and for jewelry, travel and boat repairs.

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MIAMI – Derek James Acree, 47, of Palm Beach County, Fla., was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for submitting fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $1.6 million in forgivable
Economic Injury Disaster Loans
(EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. These loans are guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Acree obtained approximately $1.6 million by submitting fraudulent EIDL and PPP loan applications for companies he owned either in whole or in part. These companies included National Financial Holdings Inc., NFH Florida LLC, DBA Finova Financial LLC, and National Financial Holding Technology LLC. The loans misrepresented the number of employees, payroll expenses, and gross revenues.
After obtaining the fraudulent loan proceeds, Acree transferred some of it to others and a portion was used as a down payment for the purchase of his home, as well as used to purchase jewelry, travel, and make repairs on his boat/home.
Acree had entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October 2022. In addition to prison, he was ordered to pay $1.26 million in restitution and $1.6 million in asset forfeiture.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and Special Agent in Charge Robert M. Dewitt, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
FBI West Palm Beach investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin W. Waugh prosecuted it and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Pastor handled asset forfeiture.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit
https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
.
On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to head one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please click
here
.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at
https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form
.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at
www.flsd.uscourts.gov
or at
http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov
.

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