CLEVELAND — A federal judge sentenced a Holland man to seven years and 10 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges by obtaining federal loans from COVID-19 loan programs under false pretenses.
Terrence Pounds, 47, fraudulently obtained more than $4.2 million in U.S. Small Business Administration-financed loans in 2020 from two programs — Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program — by having other people give him their personal identifying information apply for the loans, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker also ordered Pounds to pay $4,239,940.43 to the SBA and serve three years of supervised release.
Pounds listed the other people's names as business owners or applicants in most cases and used many of the same false statements on most applications, according to the DOJ.
"He claimed, for example, that each applicant operated a non-profit organization that was a 'Faith-Based Organization' or a 'Church' with, among other traits, $1,000,000 in revenue and 15 employees. Based on this false information, the SBA approved many of these loan applications," the DOJ said.
Pounds "often" received a share of the loan proceeds in exchange for obtaining the loans.
He used money from the scheme to buy a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, a 2021 Kia Telluride, a 2020 Hyundai Elantra and a 2020 BMW X4. Investigators seized the vehicles, which Pounds agreed to forfeit, according to the DOJ.
The public is encouraged to submit any allegations of COVID-19 fraud to the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form, according to the DOJ.