MIAMI, Fla. (CBS12) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a 55-year-old man from Bal Harbour, north of Miami, of COVID-19 relief fraud and false tax returns, crimes that enriched him with about $900,000.
The suspect, Eric Dean Sheppard, a developer, was acquitted of five counts of wire fraud and three counts of nuisance identity theft, which could have particularly prolonged his already potentially lengthy criminal sentence. Instead, the jury convicted him of four counts of wire fraud and two counts of nuisance identity theft, according to a news release.
Sheppard is accused of the scheme from May 2020 to March 2021, getting budget from lenders and the Small Business Administration.
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He submitted fraudulent loan applications, supported by fabricated and falsified documents, to several corporations under the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Disaster Loan Program. The illegal documents included tax bureaucracy with the forged signature of his accountant, the U. S. Attorney’s Office Press reported for the Southern District of Florida.
The man’s sentencing is scheduled for April 5.
For convictions on two counts of nuisance identity theft, Sheppard faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to any other ordered sentence. The potential penalty for the four counts of cordon fraud can be up to 80 years in prison, according to federal law.
Most likely, the Bal Harbour man will be ordered to pay restitution, up to $1 million, for those fees and forfeit the fraudulently received funds.