A southern Oregon restaurant was sentenced in federal court today for stealing more than $759,000 in federal funds

Summary

A U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon press release dated 2024-08-16 announcing that Amigos Mexican Cuisine & Cantina LLC, formerly located outside of Medford, Oregon, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $200,000 and $759,100 in restitution to the SBA for stealing public money. According to the release, the company submitted five fraudulent loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, with false statements about its owners' other businesses and its financials. It states that the owners moved each disbursement to personal bank accounts. The company pleaded guilty on April 29, 2024, and in a separate civil proceeding was ordered to pay $1.6 million to settle a related False Claims Act allegation.

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PORTLAND, Ore.—A southern Oregon restaurant was sentenced in federal court today for stealing more than $759,000 in federal funds intended to help small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amigos Mexican Cuisine & Cantina LLC, formerly located outside of Medford, Oregon, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $200,000 and $759,100 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
In a separate civil proceeding, Amigos was ordered to pay $1.6 million to settle a related False Claims Act allegation.
According to court documents, in a 13-month period beginning in April 2020, Amigos submitted five fraudulent loan applications to steal more than $759,000 from three Covid-19 pandemic relief programs: the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Amigos made numerous false statements on these applications, including claiming its owners did not own other businesses, providing inaccurate company financials, and falsely attesting that the company was not engaged in any illegal activity. The company further falsely claimed on a loan forgiveness application that it had used the funds received for payroll. In reality, each time the company received a disbursement of federal funds, its owners would transfer the money to their personal bank accounts for use on various personal expenses.
On April 29, 2024, Amigos pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging the company with stealing public money.
This case was investigated by the SBA Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It was prosecuted by Meredith Bateman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Lien represented the United States in Amigos’ False Claims Act proceeding.

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