• Community Events
  • Home
  • Employment
  • Local
    • Central San Diego
    • North County
    • East County
    • South Bay
    • Northeastern
    • Riverside County
  • Entertainment
    • Music
    • Television
    • Art
    • Theater
    • Film
    • Events
    • Theme Parks
    • Podcast/Radio
    • Museums
    • Books
  • Business
  • National
  • Politics
  • Science & Technology
    • Computer
    • Science
    • Space
  • Sports
  • Environment
    • Clean Air
    • Climate change
    • Land
    • Ocean
    • Pollution
    • Recycling
  • Health
    • Health Business
    • Health Education
    • Medical
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Senior Life
    • Society

San Diego County News

Independent publication serving San Diego County

California man convicted for $27 million PPP fraud scheme

March 30, 2022 By sdcnews

A federal jury convicted a California man for submitting fraudulent applications seeking money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), submitting false statements to a financial institution, and money laundering. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Robert Benlevi, 53, of Encino, submitted 27 PPP loan applications to four banks between April and June 2020 on behalf of eight companies solely owned by Benlevi. In the applications, Benlevi sought a total of $27 million in forgivable PPP loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In his fraudulent applications, Benlevi claimed that each of his companies had 100 employees and an average monthly payroll of $400,000, even though he knew that the companies did not have any employees or payroll expenses. The evidence further showed that Benlevi also submitted fabricated IRS documents falsely stating that each of the companies had an annual payroll of $4.8 million.

Based on Benlevi’s fraudulent loan applications, three of Benlevi’s companies — 1Stellar Health LLC, Bestways2 Health LLC, and Joyous-Health4U LLC — obtained $3 million in PPP funds. Although Benlevi falsely represented that the funds sought through the PPP loan applications would be used to pay payroll and certain other business expenses, the evidence showed that he instead used them for personal expenses, including cash withdrawals, payments on his personal credit cards, transfers to other personal and business accounts he controlled, and renting an oceanfront apartment in Santa Monica. In a single day, Benlevi withdrew from the Bestways2 Health account $248,000 of PPP funds in cashier’s checks, which were deposited into other accounts that Benlevi controlled.

Benlevi was convicted of bank fraud, false statements to a financial institution, and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27 and faces up to 30 years in prison for each of the bank fraud and false statement charges, and up to 10 years in prison for each count of money laundering. 

40

SHARES
Share on Facebook
Tweet
Follow us

Comments

comments

Filed Under: National Tagged With: National


Support Independent Journalism



Trending

  • Man arrested for possession of 500 pounds of illegal fireworks
  • Man arrested for attempting to steal a tip jar from a coffee shop
  • Deputies to conduct Fourth of July DUI patrols
  • CA gun owners’ personal information exposed from 2022 Firearms Dashboard, CA Dept. of Justice says
  • Man convicted of killing San Diego business owner gets life in prison

Advertisement

Good Sam Travel Assist

Advertisement

Start LLC today at incorporate.com

Education

Newly elected student board members sworn in at San Diego Unified

San … [Read More...]

Environment

Oceanside enacts Level 2 Drought Reduction actions for residents and businesses

By … [Read More...]

Science & Technology

A quarter of the world’s internet users rely on infrastructure at high risk of attack

By … [Read More...]

Advertisement

Independence Day Savings! Save up to $25◊ off our Fees on Flights Use Coupon USA25.

Advertisement

Stacy Adams

Advertisement

Summer Membership offer

Advertisement

Naturepedic

Categories

  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Community Events
  • Contact Us
  • Employment
  • Private Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow @SanCounty

Privacy Policy

Terms of service

Copyright © 2022 San Diego County News