Florida Man Pleads Not Guilty to $1.5 Million PPP Loan Fraud Scheme Involving CUs

A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud charges that he allegedly obtained more than $1.5 million in PPP loans from credit unions and banks.

A federal judge on April 1 ordered Jeremie Saintvil, 46, of Delray Beach, Fla., to remain in federal custody on four felony counts of bank fraud, making false statements to a federally-insured financial institution, aggravated identity theft and making false statements.

As a part of a complex scheme to obtain more than $1.5 million in forgivable loans, Saintvil allegedly submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Gainesville office for the Northern District of Florida. He also has been accused of stealing the identities of eight elderly individuals, seven of whom were residents of senior living facilities and one who was related to him.

The indictment alleged that Saintvil submitted nine fraudulent PPP loan applications to three credit unions and six banks on behalf of businesses that did not exist. Saintvil allegedly falsified his identity in all but one of these applications, misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses of the phony companies and made numerous other inaccurate statements. According to the indictment, Saintvil also submitted falsified tax documents and bank account information in support of these loan applications.

The victimized credit unions were the $1.1 billion Florida Credit Union in Gainesville, the $135 billion Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Va., and the $251 million Guardians Credit Union in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to court documents. The victimized banks were Celtic Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, TD Bank, Bank of America, U.S. Century Bank and Bank OZK.

What’s more, federal prosecutors alleged that using the names of his elderly victims, Saintvil opened accounts and lines of credit and obtained physical checks, debit cards and credit cards from BOA, Capitol One, JP Morgan Chase, and credit card companies such as American Express and Discover.

Federal prosecutors also said that Saintvil used the services of an electronic payments processor to transfer funds from the fraudulently obtained lines of credit into the accounts that he opened.

If convicted, Saintvil faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for the charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a federally-insured institution and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the making a false statement charge. He also faces an additional two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for the aggravated identity theft count, federal prosecutors said.