NC man gets prison for $1.7M in COVID relief fraud. There’s a ‘Game of Thrones’ tie.
A Garner man will serve 20 months in federal prison for obtaining over $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans through fraud, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
He applied for even more.
Tristan Bishop Pan, 40, received the money, meant to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020.
He originally sought over $6.1 million in federal relief funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina first announced charges against Pan in September 2020 in connection with 14 fraudulent PPP loan applications, The News & Observer reported.
Three of the businesses’ names were references to the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones”: Khaleesi, The Night’s Watch and White Walker.
Pan submitted bogus tax filings and made false statements about the companies’ employees and payroll expenses, according to a news release.
Pan pleaded guilty to wire fraud in August last year.
Since the CARES Act was signed into law in March 2020, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division has prosecuted over 150 defendants in more than 95 criminal cases, the DOJ said.
Investigators have seized over $75 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, real estate properties and “luxury items” purchased with funds meant for pandemic relief.
Anyone with information about alleged fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
