California PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers
The system is designed to look forgiving while building an airtight case. That's the thing about PPP fraud prosecutions in California that nobody tells you until it's too late. The SBA offers voluntary disclosure programs, prosecutors seem reasonable when they reach out, and everyone says cooperation matters in white collar cases. But here's what defense attorneys know: voluntary repayment isn't proof of good faith - it's consciousness of guilt evidence that destroys your defense before trial even begins. By the time you're charged, the DOJ has already decided you're guilty, and their 81.8% conviction rate proves they only bring cases they know they'll win.
At Spodek Law Group, we represent clients across California - from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Sacramento to San Diego - facing federal PPP loan fraud investigations and prosecutions. We've seen how the system works, and more importantly, where the traps are. Our mission isn't just defending cases; it's making sure clients understand what they're actually facing before they make decisions that can't be undone. Call us at 212-300-5196 if your PPP loan has been flagged, if you've received an SBA audit letter, or if federal agents have contacted you. The decisions you make in the next 48 hours will determine whether this ends in a civil resolution or a federal prison sentence.
California Is a Federal PPP Fraud Prosecution Hub - And the Numbers Prove It
California has more COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force units than almost any other state. In January 2025, Christopher and Erin Mazzei of Arroyo Grande were sentenced to 36 and 27 month,s respectivel,y for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a PPP loan schem,ein whiche they received $1.365 million. They used the funds to purchase multiple SUVs, a home in Hawaii, and approximately $164,796 to produce a promotional trailer for a television project they hoped would attract Dwayne Johnson's attention.
Emanuel Tucker of Canyon Lake pleaded guilty in August 2025 for defrauding the SBA out of $15.9 million. He bought a Ferrari F8 Tributo, multiple million-dollar houses, a $63,000 diamond ring, and a $400,000 diamond necklace. He faces 20 years in federal prison. Abraham Park, a 67-year-old CEO in La Mirada, was sentenced to 46 months and ordered to pay $6,993,700 in restitution for submitting over 120 fraudulent EIDL applications.
Here's the number that should terrify you: 81% of sentenced defendants received prison time, with sentences ranging from 1 day to 30 years. The majority fall between 1 and 5 years. And 94% were ordered to pay restitution, with amounts reaching over $71 million for the highest individual case. This isn't probation territory. Federal judges are sending people to prison for PPP fraud, and the restitution orders follow you for decades.
The IRS Criminal Investigation Division has achieved a 97.4% conviction rate in prosecuted COVID fraud cases. The DOJ overall has an 81.8% conviction rate. Of 2,532 defendants found guilty, 2,415 entered guilty pleas while only 117 went to trial. Do the math: 95.4% plead guilty. If you go to trial, your gambling on being in the 4.6% who win. Those are not odds you want to take with your freedom.
The Voluntary Repayment Trap That Destroys Your Defense Before Trial
This is were people make the catastrophic mistake. You read about PPP fraud prosecutions in the news. You realize your application had problems. You think: "If I just return the money, they'll see it was an honest mistake and leave me alone."
Wrong. Dead wrong.
Federal prosecutors have discovered that businesses who voluntarily repay loans essentially confess to fraud. The legal term is "consciousness of guilt," and its one of the most powerful pieces of evidence prosecutors can use against you at trial. Federal fraud statutes require proof of INTENT. The government must prove you KNEW the statements on your PPP application were false when you made them.
But when you voluntarily return the money years later, you've just solved there problem. Your repayment suggests you now realize the loan was obtained improperly - which implies you knew at the time. Its the legal equivalent of fleeing the scene: innocent people don't run, and people who legitimately qualified for PPP loans don't suddenly repay them unless there worried about prosecution.
Defense attorneys warn clients constantly: "Voluntary disclosure only works if you're NOT already under investigation, and only for misuse of funds - not application fraud. Done wrong, it accelerates prosecution rather than preventing it." The problem is that that most people don't know whether they'rere already under investigation. The SBA conducts audits that feed to the Office of Inspector General, which refers cases to the DOJ. By the time you think about voluntary repayment, your file might already be on a prosecutor's desk.
There is a narrow window where voluntary disclosure can work. If you qualified legitimately but then MISUSED the funds, proactively reaching out through an attorney and offering to repay the principal plus interest plus a penalty (usually 20-30%) might avoid criminal prosecution. But that only works if you're not already under investigation, the application itself was truthful, and an experienced federal defense attorney structures the disclosure correctly.
If you do it wrong - if you essentially admit to fraud when describing the errors in your repayment request - you could actually create evidence that gets used against you later. Do not call the SBA yourself. Do not write letters explaining what happened. The prosecutor reading your "cooperation" sees a confession.
Why Small PPP Loans Under $20,000 Are More Dangerous Than Large Ones
Everyone assumes the DOJ is only going after the big cases. You think: "My loan was only $18,000. They're not going to waste resources prosecuting me."
You'd be wrong. And that misconception is costing people there freedom.
Kelton McClarrin received $21,000 in PPP funds. He used the money for CashApp transfers, Grubhub, DoorDash, hotels. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Not probation. 18 months in a federal penitentiary for a $21,000 loan.
Kevin Wright applied for a $20,595 PPP loan by falsely claiming he owned a business that didn't exist. He was charged with loan fraud, a Class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years. Katherine L. Liggins and Eric C. Scott - both federal workers - each received more than $20,000 under false pretenses. A federal grand jury charged them with wire fraud.
The DOJ explicitly stated it would "undertake to prosecute any and all cases of apparent PPP loan fraud." Not cases above $2 million. Any and all cases. And here's the part that should scare you: small PPP loans aren't harder to prosecute - there EASIER.
Think about it from a prosecutor's perspective. A $15 million fraud scheme involves multiple co-conspirators, complex transactions, and a trial that could last weeks. A $20,000 fraud case? The evidence is simpler. You claimed to have 10 employees when you had zero. The case takes less time to build, the jury can understand it in an afternoon, and the conviction is almost guaranteed.
"The government started with the headlines. They're working their way down to you." The million-dollar cases make the news. The $20,000 cases fill the dockets. And because Congress extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud from 5 years to 10 years in 2022, prosecutors have until 2030 to work through the backlog.
Your not flying under the radar. Your on the list. They just haven't gotten to you yet.
The Good Faith Defense Is Failing - Even When SBA Rules Changed 4 Times in 13 Days
The CARES Act was passed on March 27, 2020. The SBA issued the first PPP rule on April 2 - six days later. Then they issued another rule on April 15 defining "payroll costs." Then revised it on April 20. Then, it issued FAQ #16 on April 24. Then revised it AGAIN on April 28.
Four different contradictory methodologies within 13 days. You'd think that chaos would be a valid defense, right? Wrong. The good-faith defense is failing.
Defense attorneys argue: "My client hired a CPA, relied on the accountant's interpretation of constantly changing SBA rules, and submitted the application in good faith." Seems solid. Except prosecutors flip it. They argue that hiring a CPA shows you're a sophisticated businessperson who understands financial compliance. Your sophistication becomes evidence against you.
And you need contemporaneous documentation. Emails from April 2020 asking your CPA questions about SBA rules. Notes from meetings. Draft applications. If your trying to construct a "reasonable reliance" defense in 2025 based on what you remember from 2020, your in trouble.
Timing also matters. If you applied in March or April 2020 when everything was chaotic, there's a stronger argument for confusion. But if you applied in June 2020 or later - after the SBA issued clear guidance - its much harder to claim confusion.
And the safe harbor provisions everyone talks about? Those are for TAX DEDUCTION issues. That's accounting. It doesn't protect you from PPP application fraud prosecutions.
What Happens When Your PPP Loan Gets Flagged: The Civil-Criminal Pipeline
All loans over $2 million are audited by default. But if your loan was under $2 million and it gets flagged, that's actually WORSE. Because it means someone specifically reported you. The most common trigger is a qui tam whistleblower case - your own employee reporting you to collect a percentage of recovered funds.
Once your flagged, you enter the civil-criminal pipeline:
- Step 1: SBA sends you an audit letter requesting documentation. Seems routine.
- Step 2: SBA reviews your response and forwards the file to the Office of Inspector General if they identify fraud indicators.
- Step 3: SBA-OIG investigates and refers the case to DOJ if they believe criminal charges are warranted.
- Step 4: DOJ assigns the case to a federal prosecutor, who involves FBI, IRS-CI, or other agencies to build the criminal case.
- Step 5: You receive a target letter, or agents show up at your door with a search warrant.
Here's the critical thing: by the time you get the audit letter in Step 1, you might already be in Step 3 or Step 4. The agencies share information. The "civil audit" might be happening simultaneously with a criminal investigation you don't know about. And everything you provide can be used as evidence in the criminal case.
This is why talking to a federal agent without an attorney is catastrophic. FBI agents are friendly, trained to build rapport. They'll say: "We just want to understand what happened." But when you explain the confusion about SBA rules, you might contradict something in the application.
The agent writes a report characterizing your statements as admissions. Then prosecutors add 18 USC 1001 charges - making false statements to federal agents - on top of the PPP fraud charges. That's an additional 5-year felony. You thought you were cooperating. You actually gave them another charge.
Once an attorney is hired, they immediately contact any investigator to ensure theres no further contact with you. But this only works if you hire the attorney BEFORE you respond to the audit, BEFORE you talk to agents, BEFORE you create evidence that can't be undone.
The 81.8% Conviction Rate and Why Cooperation Doesn't Work Like It Used To
In most federal white collar cases, cooperation is the golden ticket. But PPP fraud cases are different. Of 2,143 defendants sentenced as of December 31, 2024, 1,741 received prison time - that's 81%. The cooperation that normally results in probation isn't producing those outcomes. People are still going to prison even when they cooperate fully.
Why? Because the fraud is so obvious. You claimed to have 50 employees when you had zero. There's nothing to cooperate ABOUT. You can't give the government information about co-conspirators if you acted alone. So cooperation doesn't carry the same value.
The plea rate tells you everything: 95.4% of guilty defendants entered guilty pleas. Only 4.6% went to trial. That's not because defendants are remorseful. Its because the evidence is overwhelming and the sentencing exposure is terrifying. Wire fraud carries up to 20 years. Bank fraud carries up to 30 years. If prosecutors stack charges, your looking at decades of exposure.
The plea offer might be 18-24 months. The trial exposure might be 10-15 years. Even if you think you have a 40% chance of winning at trial, the downside risk is so catastrophic that pleading guilty is the rational decision. Prosecutors structure plea offers to make trial economically irrational.
And restitution follows you forever. If your ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution and you serve 30 months in federal prison, you still owe that $1.2 million when you get out. The government will garnish wages, seize tax refunds, place liens on property. Restitution orders don't discharge in bankruptcy. One defendant was ordered to pay over $71 million. Even smaller amounts, like $50,000, become anchors that drag you down for years.
Named Cases: California Defendants Who Thought They'd Get Away With It
Christopher and Erin Mazzei probably thought $1.365 million in PPP funds would change there lives. They used the money to purchase multiple SUVs, a home in Hawaii, and $164,796 to film a promotional trailer for a television project they hoped would attract the attention of Dwayne Johnson. Your using fraudulently obtained federal emergency relief funds to create a TV pitch for The Rock. In what universe does that end well?
In January 2025, both were sentenced - Christopher to 36 months, Erin to 27 months - for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The SUVs, the Hawaii home, the footage - all seized. And they still owe restitution.
Emanuel Tucker went bigger. $15.9 million across dozens of fraudulent applications. He bought a Ferrari F8 Tributo, multiple million-dollar houses, a $63,000 diamond ring, and a $400,000 diamond necklace. He pleaded guilty in August 2025 and faces 20 years in federal prison. Every asset seized. When he gets out in 15 or 20 years, he'll still owe millions in restitution.
Abraham Park, a 67-year-old CEO in La Mirada, advised clients to create fictitious corporate entities so he could submit over 120 fraudulent EIDL applications. His clients paid him kickbacks from the funded loans. He was sentenced to 46 months and ordered to pay $6,993,700 in restitution. He'll spend his 70s in federal prison and the rest of his life under a restitution order he'll never be able to pay.
The pattern is always the same: fraudulent application, luxury purchases, asset seizure, guilty plea, prison sentence, massive restitution order. Some people buy Ferraris. Some film TV trailers. But they all end up in federal prison, financial ruin, and a criminal record that follows them forever.
The Statute of Limitations Extended to 10 Years - Why "Waiting It Out" Is a Trap
In 2022, Congress extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud from 5 years to 10 years. If your loan was disbursed in April 2020, prosecutors now have until April 2030 to bring charges. That's not routine. That's a deliberate policy decision to ensure the government has enough time to work through the massive backlog of flagged loans.
A lot of people thought: "It's been 5 years. I'm probably safe." Wrong. The DOJ has stated that PPP fraud prosecutions will continue well into the 2030s. They're working through cases systematically - big dollar amounts first, then more minor cases. The fact that you haven't been contacted doesn't mean you're safe. It means your case hasn't been prioritized yet.
Here's the dangerous part: evidence degrades. Memories fade. Employees leave. Documents get lost if you get charged in 2028 for a loan you took in 2020, your trying to reconstruct what happened 8 years ago. If you don't have contemporaneous records - emails, notes, drafts - your defense falls apart.
The voluntary disclosure window is closing. The SBA is less interested in cutting deals as the statute runs out. Why offer a civil settlement when they can bring criminal charges and get both restitution AND a prison sentence?
But waiting is a gamble. Kelton McClarrin's $21,000 case shows that even small amounts can result in federal prison time. The only way to know if your at risk is to have an experienced federal defense attorney evaluate your specific situation.
What to Do If You Receive an SBA Audit Letter or FBI Contact
First: do not respond on your own. Do not call the SBA to explain. Everything you provide can be used against you in a criminal investigation that might already be running parallel to the audit.
Second: do not talk to FBI agents, IRS-CI agents, or SBA-OIG investigators without an attorney present. Be polite. Tell them: "I need to speak with my attorney before answering any questions." Federal agents are trained to extract statements. Talking without an attorney is how you get charged with additional crimes like 18 USC 1001 (false statements).
Third: hire an attorney who specializes in federal criminal defense and has specific experience with PPP fraud cases. You need someone who understands the statutes, the agencies involved, the sentencing guidelines, and the defenses that actually work.
Your attorney will immediately contact any investigator to ensure there's no further contact with you. Then your attorney will conduct an independent investigation: reviewing your loan application, business documents, bank records, and the timeline of SBA guidance that was in effect when you applied.
In some cases, your attorney can negotiate a civil resolution instead of criminal prosecution. But this only works if your not already under indictment, the fraud isn't egregious, you didn't use funds for luxury items, and your attorney structures it properly.
The timeline matters. The earlier you involve an attorney, the more options you have. If you wait until your indicted, your in damage control mode. If you hire an attorney when you first receive an audit letter, your in prevention mode. That difference is huge.
Why You Need a California Federal Defense Attorney for PPP Fraud - Not Later, Right Now
Todd Spodek founded Spodek Law Group with a mission: provide clients facing serious federal charges with aggressive, intelligent defense that treats them like human beings, not case numbers. In PPP fraud cases, results mean the difference between federal prison and civil resolution, between a 5-year sentence and an 18-month sentence.
California has some of the most aggressive PPP fraud prosecution units in the country. The Central and Eastern Districts have dedicated COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force teams. And the conviction rates tell you how good they are: 81.8% overall, 97.4% for IRS-CI cases. Your not fighting a local prosecutor. Your fighting the federal government with unlimited resources and a mission to make examples out of PPP fraud defendants.
You need an attorney who understands how these cases are built. SBA-OIG refers cases to DOJ. DOJ assigns them to prosecutors who specialize in financial fraud. They coordinate with FBI agents, IRS-CI special agents, and forensic accountants to build overwhelming evidence packages. By the time your charged, they've already decided your guilty.
Spodek Law Group handles federal criminal defense across California - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego. We've seen every variation of PPP fraud charges: wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy, false statements, money laundering. We know the statutes, sentencing guidelines, and the defenses that actually work.
We also know the traps. The voluntary repayment trap that creates consciousness of guilt evidence. The professional reliance defense that backfires. The good faith defense that fails despite SBA rule chaos. The cooperation that doesn't prevent prison time. We know all of it, and we use that knowledge to keep clients out of prison.
If your PPP loan has been flagged, call us at 212-300-5196. If you've received an SBA audit letter, call us. If FBI or IRS-CI agents have contacted you, call us immediately. If your thinking about voluntary repayment, call us BEFORE you do anything. The decisions you make in the next 48 hours will determine whether this ends in a criminal conviction or a civil resolution.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. California PPP fraud cases don't resolve themselves, and waiting only makes everything worse.
