Richland, Washington – Acting United States Attorney Richard Barker announced that BNL Technical Services, LLC (BNL) has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funding. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian ordered the company to pay $493,865 in restitution and imposed a one-year probation period to ensure full payment.
BNL's owner, Wilson Pershing Stevenson III from Nashville, Tennessee, settled his individual liability by paying $1,105,498 as part of a civil fraud settlement related to the case.
Court documents revealed that between 2020 and 2021, BNL provided contract labor services to Hanford Site prime contractors. Despite receiving payments from the Department of Energy (DOE) during this period for labor costs and payrolls—covering employees who were teleworking or on standby—BNL applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in April 2020. The PPP was established under the CARES Act to support small businesses affected by the pandemic.
BNL received a $493,865 PPP loan but used over $424,230 of it on unauthorized expenses while their payroll was already covered by DOE funds and other federal sources such as the Veterans Administration. In August 2021, Stevenson requested forgiveness for the PPP loan by falsely certifying its use for eligible business expenses.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rich Barker stated: “We are proud of our law enforcement partners, without which we could not have uncovered and successfully prosecuted this blatant and fraudulent misuse of PPP funds.” He praised the efforts of their COVID-19 Strike Force in holding accountable those who misused federal funds meant for small businesses.
Lewe F. Sessions from the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General emphasized that misuse of emergency funds deprives legitimate recipients at critical times. Dimitriana Nikolov from the VA Office of Inspector General highlighted their commitment to pursuing illegal profiteering at taxpayers' expense.
Weston King from SBA OIG commended law enforcement partners’ diligence in protecting small business support programs against fraudsters.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General in Richland Field Office, Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General, and VA Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tyler H.L. Tornabene and Dan Fruchter prosecuted on behalf of the United States.
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