DENVER – An Idaho Springs man has been indicted for wire fraud and money laundering in a million-dollar Paycheck Protection Program scheme, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
Edward Baker Harrington, 59, of Idaho Springs, is accused of allegedly submitting a number of fraudulent PPP applications to seven banks and one lender on behalf of business entities that he purportedly controlled between April 2020 through September 2021, the indictment states.
Prosecutors found these PPP applications had a number of false and fraudulent certifications and representations, for which the Harrington was able to obtain more than $1,000,000 in loans.
“He falsely represented that all PPP funds would be used to pay eligible business expenses, when, in fact, the proceeds were used for his personal benefit to purchase goods and property, including real estate and vehicles,” documents show.
Prosecutors also said Harrington also sought loan forgiveness for PPP loans by submitting loan forgiveness applications “in which he made false representations and certifications regarding his businesses and his compliance with the PPP program rules, including rules related to the eligible uses of PPP loan proceeds,” according to the indictment.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said.
The CARES Act created PPP, a program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided loans to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll, and certain other expenses consistent with PPP rules.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.