Clovis Businessman Sentenced to Prison for $1.4 Million COVID-19 Relief Money Theft

Summary

An April 29, 2024 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announcing that Ruben Mireles, 48, of Clovis was sentenced to one year in prison for stealing $1.4 million in COVID-19 relief money. The release states that Mireles ran a Kings County farm labor contracting business that changed its name from Vista Pacific Labor Solutions Inc. to Calzona Ag Management Inc., which received a $1.4 million PPP loan in January 2021. It says that in April 2021 he obtained a second $1.4 million PPP loan under the old name by falsely representing that the two were separate companies, that he had received no other PPP loan and that he faced no pending criminal charges.

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Cite this document

“Clovis Businessman Sentenced to Prison for $1.4 Million COVID-19 Relief Money Theft.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-04-29-clovis-businessman-sentenced-to-prison-for-1-4-million-covi-ea77b68810/, SHA-256 e4d745cc65c6e10204aa72df80b0080e8156d3d132334498e220ac957f6b7f49.

Full text

FRESNO, Calif. — Ruben Mireles, 48, of Clovis, was sentenced today to one year in prison for stealing $1.4 million in COVID-19 relief money, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Mireles owned and operated a farm labor contracting business in Kings County. His business initially went by the name Vista Pacific Labor Solutions Inc. (VPLS) and then changed its name to Calzona Ag Management Inc., doing business as Vista Pacific Farm Management (CAM).
In January 2021, after VPLS changed its name to CAM, Mireles caused CAM to apply for and receive a COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for $1.4 million from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Then, in April 2021, Mireles caused VPLS to apply for and receive another PPP loan for $1.4 million from the SBA based on false information.
In the second loan application, Mireles falsely represented to the SBA that VPLS was a separate company from CAM when, in fact, VPLS and CAM were the same company. Mireles also falsely represented that he had not received any other PPP loans, even though he had previously received CAM’s loan. Finally, Mireles falsely represented that he was not subject to any pending criminal charges when he was actually facing state fraud charges.
Based on Mireles’ representations, VPLS’s loan application was approved and the $1.4 million, to which he was not entitled, was deposited into his bank account.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the SBA Office of Inspector General with assistance from the California Department of Insurance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of a California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force operation, one of five interagency COVID-19 fraud strike force teams established by the U.S. Department of Justice. The California Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources in the Eastern and Central Districts of California and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces use prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

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File: 2024-04-29_clovis-businessman-sentenced-to-prison-for-1-4-million-covid-19-relief-m_44ccce86.md.txt
Size: 2,279 bytes
SHA-256: e4d745cc65c6e10204aa72df80b0080e8156d3d132334498e220ac957f6b7f49
Our copy: 2024-04-29_clovis-businessman-sentenced-to-prison-for-1-4-million-covid-19-relief-m_44ccce86.md.txt
Original: www.justice.gov