NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that JULIO A. GONZALEZ, JR.( GONZALEZ), age 26, of Chalmette, La., was sentenced on March 6, 2024 by United States District Judge Lance M. Africk, to three months in jail, a $100 mandatory special assessment fee and payment of $23,433.85 in restitution after previously pleading guilty to making false statements related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001.
The CARES Act established several new temporary programs and provided for the expansion of others to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these programs, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which authorized forgivable loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll and other business-related expenses. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the loan to be forgiven if the loan proceeds are spent on these expense items within a designated period of time and uses at least a certain percentage of the proceeds on payroll expenses.
Specifically, GONZALEZ pled guilty to making false statements to an approved lender to fraudulently obtain a PPP loan. As a result, he received a PPP loan totaling approximately $20,832.00. GONZALEZ stated in his application that he was an independent contractor impacted by the pandemic when, in truth, he had no such business.
For more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Irene González of the General Crimes Unit is charge of the prosecution.