Colorado Springs Man Indicted for Covid Relief Program Fraud

Summary

Announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado of the indictment of Charles James Lacona, Jr., age 65, of Colorado Springs, for an alleged role in a scheme to defraud Covid Relief Programs. According to allegations in the indictment, beginning in April 2020, the defendant obtained more than $500,000 in PPP loans for National Financial Services, allegedly by inflating payroll costs and gross receipts and submitting fabricated tax documents. The indictment also alleges the defendant drew a check of $67,704.13 from the loan proceeds. The initial appearance was before United States Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell on May 4, 2023. The charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“Colorado Springs Man Indicted for Covid Relief Program Fraud.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-05-06-colorado-springs-man-indicted-for-covid-relief-program-frau-6bd676d3b5/, SHA-256 dd4ff9aee71634cbd95f4eb90018fe23ad8d9bd15a4f79259b221dc46592f7e3.

Full text

DENVER – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces the indictment of Charles James Lacona, Jr., age 65, of Colorado Springs for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud Covid Relief Programs.
On March 27, 2020, the President of the United States signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which provided emergency assistance to small business owners suffering adverse economic effects caused by the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic. The CARES Act established several new temporary programs and expanded existing programs, including programs created or administered by the SBA. Two sources of funding for small businesses were the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (“EIDL”) program.
According to allegations in the indictment, beginning in April 2020, the defendant obtained more than $500,000 in PPP loans on behalf of his company, National Financial Services.  The defendant allegedly obtained the loans by inflating payroll costs and gross receipts, and submitting fabricated tax documents and payroll reports.  The indictment also alleges the defendant drew a check of $67,704.13 from the loan proceeds to purchase a 2019 Cadillac from a Colorado Springs dealership.
The defendant made his initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell in Federal Court in Denver on May 4, 2023.
The case was investigated by IRS-CI.  Assistant United States Attorney Craig Fansler is handling the prosecution.
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 more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit
https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
.
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
.
The charges in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Case No.  23-cr-00104-DDD

File and source

File: 2023-05-06_colorado-springs-man-indicted-for-covid-relief-program-fraud_8c19cfa9.md.txt
Size: 2,874 bytes
SHA-256: dd4ff9aee71634cbd95f4eb90018fe23ad8d9bd15a4f79259b221dc46592f7e3
Our copy: 2023-05-06_colorado-springs-man-indicted-for-covid-relief-program-fraud_8c19cfa9.md.txt
Original: www.justice.gov