Boxing Gym Owner Sentenced for COVID Fraud Scheme

Summary

A U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts press release dated 2024-01-30, announcing that U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Daniel Olivar of Lynnfield to six months in prison and three years of supervised release, the first six months in home confinement, with $50,844 in restitution. Olivar, owner of Sonny's Boxing and Fitness, Inc. in Middleton, pleaded guilty in August 2023 to four counts of wire fraud. According to the release, he filed false applications with the SBA for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan and a PPP loan, and falsely claimed unemployment benefits by stating he had been laid off from Gold's Gym, receiving benefits from January 2020 until at least May 2021.

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BOSTON – A Lynnfield man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for fraudulently obtaining multiple Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act loans, including funds from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled for his boxing gym.
Daniel Olivar, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement. Olivar was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $50,844. In August 2023, Olivar pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud.
Olivar was the owner of Sonny’s Boxing and Fitness, Inc., a boxing club and fitness center in in Middleton. Since at least 2019, Olivar engaged in a scheme to defraud and obtain CARES Act business loans, by filing false and fraudulent applications with the United States Small Business administration (SBA). This included an Economic Injury Disaster Loan  from the SBA and a PPP loan. In addition, Olivar filed a claim for unemployment benefits with the State of Massachusetts, falsely claiming that he was laid off from Gold’s Gym. As a result, from January 2020 until at least May 2021, Olivar received unemployment benefits.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.
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
.

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