A man has pleaded guilty in federal court to attempting to obtain over $3.5 million in federal CARES Act funds.
Joshua Leavitt of Northwood pleaded guilty to bank fraud and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Jane Young said Tuesday.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between March 2020 and November 2021, the man and a co-defendant fraudulently applied for over two dozen loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs during the pandemic.
The application for one company claimed that its monthly payroll was $70,000 and that there were six employees. A tax return said employees were paid over $209,000 one quarter and that the defendants payed federal income taxes of $27,000.
But that document was never filed with the IRS. The real tax filings showed the company paid over $48,000 to its employees for a year, or about $4,000 a month, prosecutors said.
The man is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 11, 2023.