A 33-year-old St. Paul man has pleaded responsible to acquiring $841,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Safety Program loans created by the federal authorities to assist small companies harmed by COVID-19.
Kyle W. Brenizer admitted Monday in U.S. District Court docket in St. Paul to wire fraud, cash laundering and aggravated identification theft in reference to the loans for his defunct development firm.
Sentencing has but to be scheduled. Within the meantime, Brenizer stays in federal custody with out bail within the Sherburne County jail.
Protection legal professional Kevin DeVore mentioned Tuesday that “after reviewing the proof … the choice was made that the federal government had enough proof to show its case. In consequence, it was higher to focus our power on the sentencing points like loss [amount] calculation reasonably than on the difficulty of guilt or innocence.”
DeVore mentioned the plea settlement has a variety of sentencing potentialities “as a result of loss calculation, which shall be some extent of competition on the sentencing listening to.”
In response to the costs, Brenizer’s Brooklyn Park-based True-Lower Building had been ordered by the state to stop and desist from doing enterprise in August 2018, and in December 2019, its contractor license lapsed and was not renewed.
Brenizer first submitted a mortgage software for the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) program in search of $841,000 on Could 1, 2020, and was denied. Below this system, permitted by Congress final 12 months originally of the pandemic, qualifying small companies can get two-year loans to cowl payroll prices, mortgage, lease or utility bills.
Brenizer once more tried to acquire the funds 10 days later, however this time he used the title of one other individual, the federal indictment learn. He allegedly falsely represented that the opposite, unidentified individual owned 90% of the corporate. He additionally falsely acknowledged that the corporate’s common month-to-month payroll was $336,400 for about 30 workers, the indictment continued.
Prosecutors alleged that Brenizer used phony financial institution statements and IRS paperwork in his mortgage functions, and was permitted for a PPP mortgage on his second attempt.
Brenizer purchased a $29,000 Harley-Davidson motorbike, transferred the majority of the mortgage that he obtained to a checking account unrelated to his firm, and “paid for numerous retail and leisure expenditures for his private profit,” the costs in opposition to him learn.
Brenizer additionally has been named in a number of state felony expenses of verify forgery, identification theft and theft by swindle, the indictment famous, however he denied having any pending prison expenses in his software.
State courtroom information additionally present that Brenizer has beforehand been convicted of prison sexual conduct, unlawful drug possession and violating a home abuse no-contact order.
Star Tribune employees author Stephen Montemayor contributed to this report.
