U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced that Hormoz Mansouri, a 71-year-old businessman from Amherst, New York, has been sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Mansouri received a sentence of time served and five years of supervised release, which includes one year of home detention. Additionally, he is required to pay $3,197,562 in restitution and forfeit $1,888,603.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno explained that Mansouri submitted fraudulent loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. These programs were part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act) designed to provide emergency financial assistance.
Mansouri controlled several business entities that applied for these loans: HLM Holding LLC, El Team Inc., NPTS Inc., 2060 Sheridan Drive LLC, 212 Holden Avenue LLC, 350 Old Niagara Falls Boulevard LLC, 47 East Amherst LLC, and 3600 Harlem Road LLC.
The PPP loans obtained by these entities included inflated or fabricated payroll figures. Six out of the eight entities had no actual employees or payroll expenses. The total amount received from the fraudulent PPP loans was approximately $3 million. The businesses also acquired about $450,600 in EIDL funds through false representations of revenues and costs.
On May 28, 2021, the United States Attorney’s Office seized around $1,923,603 from these fraudulent activities. Mansouri further moved the illicit funds between different bank accounts and commingled them with legitimate business revenues.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division led by Special Agent-in-Charge Harry Chavis.
