Two men sought half a million dollars in coronavirus aid for fake businesses, feds say
Two men in New England are accused of filing for more than $500,000 in coronavirus aid for small businesses they don’t own in what prosecutors are calling the first case of stimulus fraud.
David A. Staveley, 52, of Massachusetts, and David Butziger, 51, of Rhode Island, claimed to have “dozens of employees” at four businesses that qualified for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said in a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
But there were no employees at any of the businesses, one of which didn’t even belong to them, according to the release.
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