Winchester Man Charged With PPP Loan Fraud

WINCHESTER, MA — A Winchester man and business owner was charged on Monday with filing fraudulent loan applications for more than $13 million for coronavirus relief. The forgivable loans are guaranteed by the Small Business Administration for COVID-19 relief through the Paycheck Protection Program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, and will appear in federal court in Boston.

Buoi is the president and CEO of an information technology services company, Sosuda Tech, LLC. Between April and June 2020, Buoi submitted fraudulent applications for over $13 million in PPP loans through SBA-approved lenders, according to the complaint. In the applications, Buoi misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses and falsely certified that the United States was the primary residence for his employees. Buoi is also accused of submitting falsified documentation in support of his applications for PPP funds. The complaint further alleges that Buoi ultimately received over $2 million in PPP funds. The government has seized approximately $1.98 million from Sosuda’s business bank accounts.

“The defendant tried to defraud an emergency program designed to help businesses, and their employees, survive the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “This behavior is reprehensible, and my office is committed to rooting out and prosecuting this kind of fraud wherever we find it.”

“This case should serve as a warning to others plotting similar scams—we are acting and investigating in real time to stop anyone using this crisis as a means to rip off the federal government at the expense of hard-working taxpayers,”said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses, through the PPP. In April 2020, Congress authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding.

The PPP allows qualifying small-businesses and other organizations to receive loans with a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1 percent. PPP loan proceeds must be used by businesses on payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if businesses spend the proceeds on these expenses within a set time period and use at least a certain percentage of the loan towards payroll expenses.