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Santa Clarita Man Pleads Guilty To Massive PPP Loan Fraud Scheme
The outside of the home traced to Mr. Magana's PPP loan (as stated in the complaint affidavit in this case). (Screenshot via Google Maps)
A Santa Clarita man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to claiming more than $1 million in fraudulent loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
According to his plea agreement, 40-year-old Raymond Magana submitted applications for loans in the amount of $940,416 for a company in his name, The Building Circle LLC. Those loans contained false statements about both the number of employees and the amount of payroll expenses he had.
Magana said he employed 40 people, but IRS and EDD records showed the company never reported paying any employees...
Investigators also deteremined that the company's address in Pico Rivera was actually a 980-square-foot single-family home (pictured), not an office building.
Magana also admitted to applying for and receiving a PPP loan of $360,415 for a second shell company, Forward Builders LLC, also with fake documents.
He now faces up to 30 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May.
Magana’s business partner, Steven R. Goldstein, 36, of Northridge, also pleaded guilty to fraud. Goldstein admitted that he obtained $655,000 in PPP loans for his companies by submitting false tax documents and fake employee information. Goldstein’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 30.
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