GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina man was sentenced to 63 months in prison last week for perpetrating three fraud schemes between March and July last year connected to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Officials said the man defrauded consumers and the federal government’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL), which was made to help small business owners during the pandemic.
According to DOJ, Brandon Lewis, 35, of Greensboro, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to the Small Business Administration (SBA) on Aug. 31, 2020.
The DOJ said according to court documents, in March 2020, Lewis created a fake website for orders for “pandemic-critical goods,” defrauding people of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The department said Lewis also created a fake “COVID-19 Relief Fund,” which he used to defraud dozens of small business owners and submitted approximately 68 fraudulent applications for loans and non-refundable grant “advances” of up to $10,000 through the SBA-EIDL program.
