Boston Man Sentenced for Frequently Obtaining COVID-Relief Funds (Press Release, December 19, 2024)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated December 19, 2024, announcing that U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun sentenced Robert Platt Jr. of Boston to time served (one day) and two years of supervised release and ordered $20,833 in restitution and forfeiture. Platt pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements. The release states that Platt was arrested in February 2024; others arrested with Platt were members or associates of the Heath Street Gang charged with offenses including COVID-related fraud. It states that in April 2021 Platt submitted a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application for a purported construction business, supported by false tax records, and received approximately $20,833.

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PRESS RELEASE


Boston Man Sentenced for Frequently
Obtaining COVID-Relief Funds
Thursday, December 19, 2024

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – A Boston man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston after being
convicted of fraudulently obtaining pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck
Protection Program (PPP).

Robert Platt Jr., 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun to time
served (one day), to be followed by two years of supervised release. Platt was also
ordered to pay $20,833 in restitution and forfeiture. In September 2024, Platt pleaded
guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements. Platt
arrested in February 2024 along with over 40 Heath Street Gang members/associates,
who were charged with racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, firearms charges, and
financial frauds, including COVID-related fraud.

Among other relief programs, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
Act created the PPP, a temporary loan program directed at small businesses. PPP loans
were processed and funded by participating lenders and guaranteed by the U.S. Small
Business Administration. If the small business used the loan funds for permissible
expenses, the loan could be forgiven.

In April 2021, Platt submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application on behalf of his
purported construction business. The application contained multiple false statements,
including false representations regarding the fictitious business’s income in 2019 and
the purpose of the loan. Platt also submitted false tax records in support of his loan
application. Based on the fraudulent application, Platt received approximately $20,833,
which he then spent on non-business-related expenses, including transactions at Encore
Boston Harbor Casino.

United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox;
Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General; and Jonathan Wlodyka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue
Service Criminal Investigations made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Sarah Hoefle and Lucy Sun of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit prosecuted the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF)
operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal
organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven,
multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be
found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

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.

Updated December 19, 2024

Topic
CORONAVIRUS


Component
USAO - Massachusetts


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