Raleigh man accused of defrauding federal government of $1M+ in COVID relief money
A Raleigh man was arrested Wednesday after a federal grand jury indicted him on allegations of fraudulently obtaining over $1 million in COVID-19 relief money.
Wilson Alfredo Olivera Borda, 44, is accused of falsifying loan applications for five separate businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), pandemic relief assistance paid for by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
According to Tuesday’s indictment, he misrepresented employee and payroll information for the businesses to receive nine PPP loans. Through additional fabrication, he received forgiveness on those loans, which were paid off by the SBA, according to the indictment.
That was all after obtaining an initial $370,000 in pandemic relief money for a sixth company called Ameriserv, his Garner-based insurance firm, according to the indictment.
Jamie Vavonese, one of Olivera Borda’s lawyers, told The News & Observer she had no comment on the case Friday.
Charged with nine counts of wire fraud involving disaster-related benefits, Olivera Borda could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted, according to a news release from the Eastern District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Since the CARES Act, a pandemic relief law, took effect in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted more than 150 defendants and seized over $75 million in PPP fraud cases, the release. stated.
As of March, the Internal Revenue Service had investigated over 1,600 pandemic tax and money laundering cases related to COVID fraud potentially totaling $8.9 billion nationwide, according to an IRS news release. Almost 800 people had been indicted for alleged COVID-related crimes and 373 people had been sentenced to an average of nearly three years in federal prison as of Feb. 29, the agency reported.
Olivera Borda is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning for a detention hearing.
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