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Jae H. Choi, 48, “fabricated the existence of hundreds of employees, manipulated bank and tax records, and falsified a driver’s license on the applications,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Choi told the lenders that he paid $3 million in monthly wages to hundreds of employees in the non-existent companies, Carpenito said.
Lenders, in turn, gave him $9 million in federal COVID-19 emergency relief funds meant for distressed small businesses, the U.S. attorney said.
Choi used the money to buy a house in Cresskill, pay for $30,000 in remodeling and other improvements and invest millions more in the stock market through an account held in the name of his spouse. Carpenito said.
The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted in late March, is designed to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans suffering economic hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A source of the money is $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses.
Carpenito credited IRS – Criminal Investigation, inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Macurdy of the District of New Jersey and Trial Attorney Andrew Tyler are handling the case.
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