Manuel Asadurian of Simi Valley, California was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution. He and his co-conspirator, Jeffrey Scott Hedges of Irvine, had schemed to fraudulently obtain federal disaster relief funds distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs from April 2020 to January 2021. Together, they submitted false information on 12 PPP and EIDL loan applications in order to fraudulently obtain over $1 million in loans. The pair used the money for personal benefit, such as mortgage payments, living expenses, medical expenses, and luxury vehicles. Hedges was also sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the conspiracy. These cases were investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, the Federal Reserve Board Office of Inspector General, the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the Small Business Administration. Anyone with information about attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline.
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