U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the sentencing of Hormoz Mansouri, a 71-year-old businessman from Amherst, New York. Mansouri was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, as well as bank fraud itself. He received a sentence of time served and five years of supervised release, including one year of home detention. Additionally, he must pay restitution amounting to $3,197,562 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 loans were intended to provide emergency financial aid according to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act). 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 average monthly payroll figures. Six out of eight entities had no actual employees or payroll expenses. The total amount received from the fraudulent PPP loans was approximately $3 million. The entities also secured around $450,600 in EIDL funds through false representations of revenues and costs of goods sold.
On May 28, 2021, the United States Attorney’s Office seized about $1,923,603 of the fraudulently acquired money. Mansouri further moved these funds between various bank accounts while mixing them with legitimate business revenues and funding certain accounts like a campaign account named “Mansouri for County Comptroller.”
The investigation leading to this sentencing was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm’s direction and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division led by Special Agent-in-Charge Harry Chavis.
