Three Massachusetts residents are among six people who have been charged for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme that netted more than $7 million in coronavirus-era Paycheck Protection Program funds, Acting US Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy’s office said Tuesday.
Two of the individuals, Richardson Rhau, 49, and Wens Herby Mathurin, 26, both of Brockton, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit unlawful monetary transactions, Levy’s office said.
A third Massachusetts resident, Bill Dessaps, 46, of South Easton, was indicted separately Tuesday on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of bank fraud, the US attorney’s office said.
Messages were sent to their attorneys seeking comment Tuesday night.
According to prosecutors, in June of 2020, Rhau had connected Dessaps and Mathurin to a group that was working to file fraudulent PPP applications on behalf of business operators by fabricating their workforce numbers and monthly payroll expenses, as well as false wage and tax forms. Dessaps was the operator of an Abington-based used car dealership, and Mathurin was the operator of a warehouse and cargo delivery business, the US attorney’s office said.
Rhau sent Dessaps’ and Mathurin’s information to Gardy Alexandre, 51, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who allegedly submitted the fraudulent applications on their behalf, the US attorney’s office said.
For Dessaps’ dealership, Alexandre allegedly stated that the dealership employed 40 people and had average monthly payroll expenses of $334,720. For Mathurin’s business, Alexandre falsely stated that the business had 25 employees and average monthly payroll expenses of $125,541, the US attorney’s office said.
The applications were accepted, and Dessaps allegedly received a loan of $836,800 while Mathurin received $313,852, according to the US attorney’s office.
Once they had the money, Dessaps and Mathurin allegedly made kickback payments to Alexandre, and Rhau allegedly sent an additional $45,000 to Rhau, the US attorney’s office said.
Authorities said Rhau also allegedly obtained more than $104,000 in PPP funds and $94,800 in “other pandemic relief funds” from applications he submitted 2020 and 2021, according to the US attorney’s office.
Dessaps also allegedly filed a fraudulent application in March 2021 through the “Second Draw” PPP loan program, authorities said.
Alexandre was allegedly working on the multi-state scheme with Wallace Ford, 38, of Buford Ga., and Adiana Pierre, 39, of Lookout Mountain, Tenn., who all allegedly received kickbacks of about 10 to 20 percent of the awarded loan amount, the US attorney’s office said. Authorities said the three allegedly received more than $1 million in kickbacks from borrowers.
Ford, Pierre, and Alexandre were also charged and have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit unlawful monetary transactions, the US attorney’s office said.
The wire fraud charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the scheme, whichever is greater, the US attorney’s office said.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.