Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Source documents U.S. Department of Labor OIG, New York Man Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MA 03/15/22) (2022-03-24)

U.S. Department of Labor OIG, New York Man Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MA 03/15/22) (2022-03-24)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated March 15, 2022, announcing that Ronald Buie, 35, a New York man, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, who scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2022. Buie was charged on Jan. 25, 2022. The release states that Buie used various false identities to obtain fraudulent SBA loans exceeding $219,000 and submitted fraudulent documentation to obtain a $60,000 SBA loan for Platinum Car Service LLC, including a purported bank statement showing more than $198,000 when the actual balance was less than $3,000. Buie also used false identities to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in Massachusetts and Ohio.

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

“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, New York Man Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme (USAO D-MA 03/15/22) (2022-03-24).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-new-york-man-pleads-guilty-to-covid-19-rel-8056c2709f/, SHA-256 24dc9497556add0b62ad3a1a2f820d83c6d35b8b1159941a02011bc00cd7c989.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                      District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                  Tuesday, March 15, 2022



     New York Man Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Relief Fraud
                          Scheme
BOSTON – A New York Man pleaded guilty today to charges arising from a scheme to fraudulently
obtain business loans and unemployment pandemic relief funds made available under the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Ronald Buie, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Douglas
P. Woodlock who scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2022. Buie was charged on Jan. 25, 2022.

Buie engaged in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) by submitting
fraudulent applications for loans offered in connection with the CARES Act. As part of this scheme,
Buie used various false identities to apply for and obtain fraudulent SBA loans in amounts exceeding
$219,000. Buie also submitted fraudulent documentation to apply for and obtain a fraudulent SBA
loan for $60,000 for his company, Platinum Car Service LLC. Specifically, in support of his loan
application, Buie provided what he purported to be a monthly bank statement for his business
checking account showing an ending balance of more than $198,000, whereas bank records for that
particular month show that the actual balance was less than $3,000. In addition, Buie’s scheme also
involved the utilization of various false identities to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
benefits in Massachusetts and Ohio.

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of
supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court
judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a
sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Mark Comorosky, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S.
Secret Service, Boston Field Office; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of Department of
Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; and Ketty Larco-
Ward, Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service made the announcement
today. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Secret Service, New York Field Office;
Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance; and the New York City Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Abely, Chief of Rollins’ Criminal Division, is prosecuting 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.
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Massachusetts
                                                                               Updated March 15, 2022

File and source

File
2022-03-24-New-York-Man-Pleads-Guilty-to-COVID-19-Relief-Fraud-Scheme-USAO-D-MA-03-15-22.pdf
Size
275,116 bytes
SHA-256
24dc9497556add0b62ad3a1a2f820d83c6d35b8b1159941a02011bc00cd7c989
Our copy
2022-03-24-New-York-Man-Pleads-Guilty-to-COVID-19-Relief-Fraud-Scheme-USAO-D-MA-03-15-22.pdf
Original
www.oig.dol.gov
Back to top