Southern Oregon restaurant sentenced to pay fine, restitution for stealing Covid-19 relief program funds
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) —A southern Oregon restaurant was sentenced in federal court Friday for stealing more than $759,000 in federal funds intended to help small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amigos Mexican Cuisine & Cantina LLC, formerly located outside of Medford, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $200,000 and $759,100 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
In a separate civil proceeding, Amigos was ordered to pay $1.6 million to settle a related False Claims Act allegation.
According to court documents, in a 13-month period beginning in April 2020, Amigos submitted five fraudulent loan applications to steal more than $759,000 from three Covid-19 pandemic relief programs: the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Prosecutors said Amigos made numerous false statements on these applications, including claiming its owners did not own other businesses, providing inaccurate company financials, and falsely attesting that the company was not engaged in any illegal activity.
The company further falsely claimed on a loan forgiveness application that it had used the funds received for payroll. In reality, each time the company received a disbursement of federal funds, its owners would transfer the money to their personal bank accounts for use on various personal expenses.
On April 29, Amigos pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging the company with stealing public money.
The case was investigated by the SBA Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It was prosecuted by Meredith Bateman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Lien represented the United States in Amigos’ False Claims Act proceeding.
