Rachel C. Hernandez Acting United States Attorney for the District of Arizona | U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona
Roy Lane, a 44-year-old man from St. David, Arizona, has been sentenced to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for filing false tax returns and loan applications to obtain COVID-19 disaster relief. This sentence was delivered on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker. Lane previously entered a guilty plea to two counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false claim.
The court documents and evidence presented reveal that Lane made efforts to appear as though he was running several businesses. He did so by filing paperwork with the IRS, obtaining a business license from the City of Tucson, opening business bank accounts, and submitting false employment-related tax returns. In April 2020, Lane filed an application with the U.S. Small Business Administration, claiming to operate a 'wholesale' business with 17 employees and generating revenue exceeding half a million dollars annually. In 2021, he sent another false application for a Paycheck Protection Act loan, stating that the same 'wholesale' business had 31 employees and $1.2 million in revenue. Ultimately, Lane received over $300,000 in COVID-19-related loans he was not entitled to through these misrepresentations.
Additionally, Lane used the personal identifying information of others to file false refund claims with the IRS. Lane claimed over $7.4 million in false refunds, of which approximately $590,000 was disbursed by the IRS.
Besides the prison sentence, Judge Hinderaker also ordered Lane to pay restitution amounting to $856,692.91 to the United States.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Matthew R. Hoffman of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Sue Feldmeier of the District of Arizona, Tucson.
