CT PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

The chaos of COVID saved you. At least, that's what you've been telling yourself. The PPP applications were rushed. The rules changed daily. Banks were overwhelmed. The government couldn't possibly track everything in that mess.

You're wrong.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to tell you what other websites won't: every PPP application you signed is digitally timestamped. Every bank transfer is recorded. Every payroll number you claimed is stored in federal databases that will never be deleted. The government isn't investigating to FIND evidence of fraud. They already HAVE the evidence. They're just deciding who to charge next.

And with a 10-year statute of limitations that runs until 2030, 2031, or even 2032 depending on when you applied for forgiveness, they have all the time in the world. Meanwhile, sentences are getting 40% HARSHER as COVID sympathy fades. If your worried about your PPP loan, you should be.

The Perfect Evidence Trail You Created

Heres the thing about PPP that nobody explained at the time. The chaos you remember - applications crashing, rules unclear, everyone scrambling - that chaos wasnt hiding anything. It was documenting everything. The SBA built a digital-first system specifically to process applications fast. Speed meant no paper. No paper means every transaction is digitally timestamped and stored forever in federal databases.

The irony is brutal. The same technology that let banks process millions of applications in weeks created the most comprehensive evidence trail federal prosecutors have ever seen in a white-collar fraud case. Every click. Every submission. Every number you entered. All of it preserved with timestamps that prove exactly when you made each representation.

You might think only the government has access to this information. Thats not how it works. PPP loan data is publicly available. Anyone can look it up. Your competitor who wants to report you. Your ex-employee with a grudge. A whistleblower at your bank. They all have access to the same database the FBI uses. The federal government even created something called the Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence - PACE - specifically to coordinate data analysis across agencies. The chaos you thought protected you documented everything perfectly.

And your PPP application doesn't exist in isolation. It cross-references with your IRS filings. Your bank records. Your payroll company's submissions. Form 941 - the quarterly payroll tax return you file with the IRS - gets compared automatically to the employee numbers you claimed on your PPP application. The algorithm doesn't need a human to tell it something's wrong. One mismatch between what you told the SBA and what you told the IRS, and your flagged for review before anyone even looks at your file. You created a web of evidence that verifies itself.

Todd Spodek has seen this pattern hundreds of times. Clients come in thinking the complexity protects them. It dosent. The complexity is the trap.

The 10-Year Clock That Started When You Applied

Heres something most people don't realize about PPP fraud. Normal federal fraud carries a 5-year statute of limitations. Wire fraud, bank fraud, most white-collar crimes - five years from the offense, and you're in the clear if they haven't charged you.

PPP fraud is different. In August 2022, Congress specifically extended the statute of limitations to 10 years. The PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act passed with bipartisan support and was signed by President Biden. Republicans wanted prosecution. Democrats wanted prosecution. There's no political will to shorten it. This isn't going away because people forgot about COVID.

The clock starts from whichever is LATER: the date you recieved the loan, the date you used the funds, or the date your forgiveness was granted. Think about what that means. If you got your loan in April 2020, you're exposed until April 2030. But if you applied for forgiveness in late 2021 or 2022 - which many people did - the clock doesn't even start until then. Forgiveness applications processed in 2022 mean exposure until 2032. A full decade of looking over your shoulder.

OK so you might think time is on your side anyway. Evidence fades, right? Memories get hazy. Witnesses move away or forget details. In traditional fraud cases, that's sometimes true. Not here.

Digital evidence doesn't fade. It's sitting in databases right now, exactly as it was the day you submitted it. The timestamps haven't changed. The documents haven't degraded. And heres the kicker: cooperating witnesses accumulate. Each year that passes, more people flip. More cases get prosecuted. More defendants give up names to reduce their own sentences. Time isn't on your side. Its on theirs.

The DOJ COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force has already charged over 3,500 defendants and secured over 2,500 convictions. They've recovered more than $1.4 billion in stolen funds. Those numbers keep growing every quarter. This isnt winding down. Its ramping up. The Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General reports over 1,200 criminal indictments and nearly 700 convictions specificaly from their investigations. Multiple agencies are working the same problem from different angles - and they coordinate with each other.

The First Question in Every Proffer

When federal prosecutors sit down with a PPP defendant for a proffer session - that's the meeting where you try to cooperate in exchange for reduced charges - they ask one question first. "Who helped you with the application?" This happens in 80% of PPP proffers. Eighty percent.

They're not asking becuase they want to understand your situation better. They're building a case against that person. Your accountant. Your bookkeeper. The "PPP specialist" who promised they could get you approved fast. The loan broker who said everyone was doing it. The person you trusted to help you becomes your legal liability the moment prosecutors start asking questions.

Think about it. Your accountant didnt just help you. They helped 5, 10, maybe 20 other clients with PPP applications during those chaotic months in 2020. If ONE of those clients gets charged and decides to cooperate, your name comes up. "Who else did you help?" Suddenly you're connected to people you've never met, all through one person who has every incentive to give up names to save themselves.

And they will cooperate. Their license is on the line. Their freedom. Their family's financial security. When prosecutors offer a deal - cooperate and testify against your clients, or face federal charges yourself - they take it. Every time. The feds subpoena banks, payroll companies, accountants. They're building a web of cooperating witnesses, and once that web starts expanding, it pulls in everyone connected to it.

The question isnt IF your helper will cooperate against you. It's WHEN.

At Spodek Law Group, we've seen clients blindsided by this dynamic. They thought using a professional protected them. Instead, it created a cooperating witness with detailed knowledge of exactly what they submitted and why.

Sentences Are Getting Harsher, Not Lighter

Logic says COVID sympathy would help at sentencing. Unprecedented times. Everyone was struggling. Businesses were desperate for cash flow. The rules were confusing. Surely judges would understand the context and show leniency.

Heres what actualy happened. Defendants sentenced in 2024 and 2025 are recieving sentences 40% longer than defendants sentenced in 2021 and 2022 for IDENTICAL conduct. Same fraud. Same amount. Different year. Harsher sentence. Being prosecuted later is worse, not better.

Maybe you thought first-time offender, relativley small amount, probation is on the table? According to DOJ data from December 2024, 81% of pandemic fraud defendants recieved prison time. Eighty-one percent. Probation is the exception now. Prison is the rule.

Why the harsh turn? Judges saw the pattern. Lamborghinis. Rolex watches. Designer clothes. Luxury vacations. Defendants claiming COVID desperation while spending PPP money on things they wanted, not things their businesses needed. The "COVID made me do it" defense stopped working the moment judges saw how the money was actualy spent. The window for sympathy closed permanently. Its not reopening.

The federal sentencing guidelines for fraud are driven primarily by loss amount. If the government alleges you fraudulently obtained $550,000 in PPP loans, that's a base offense level that puts you at 5-7 years before any adjustments. Add enhancements for sophistication, for using a financial institution, for obstruction if you destroyed evidence - sentences can climb rapidly.

What's Happening in Connecticut Right Now

Connecticut isnt some federal backwater where these cases don't happen. The District of Connecticut - covering Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Waterbury - is activly prosecuting PPP fraud right now. These aren't cases from 2020. These are sentences happening TODAY.

A Woodbridge man was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for $2.3 million in PPP fraud. He was arrested in November 2024 and pleaded guilty to bank fraud and illegal monetary transactions. Ordered to pay $2,284,772 in restitution. That restitution survives bankruptcy. It follows him forever. He'll be paying it back for the rest of his life, wages garnished, assets subject to seizure.

Omar Rajeh from Hamden: 15 months for defrauding pandemic relief programs of over $750,000. Sentenced in July 2025. John Matava from Coventry: 24 months for COVID relief fraud. Sentenced in March 2024. A Hartford defendant: 33 months for $480,000. A New Haven defendant: 24 months for lying about payroll to get $260,000.

Heres the part that should concern you if you're in Connecticut. These defendants were investigated 1-2 years ago. The investigations that started in 2023 and 2024 are producing sentences now. Current investigations - the ones happening right now that you don't know about - those become 2026 and 2027 sentences. Silence doesn't mean safety. Investigations don't announce themselves until they're ready to charge. If you're going to learn anything from what's happening in Connecticut, learn this: they're not done.

A Waterbury company paid over $2.2 million to settle False Claims Act allegations related to PPP. Thats civil exposure on TOP of potential criminal liability. The federal government is coming at this from every angle - criminal prosecution, civil forfeiture, False Claims Act suits.

And heres something most Connecticut business owners dont realize. The District of Connecticut covers an area with one of the highest concentrations of financial services professionals in the country. Stamford alone has more hedge funds and investment firms than most states. Federal prosecutors here are experienced with complex financial fraud. They've been handling white-collar cases for decades. PPP fraud isnt complicated for them - its actualy simpler than the cases they normaly prosecute. The evidence is cleaner. The paper trail is more obvious. If anything, Connecticut prosecutors are over-qualified for these cases.

The Small Amount Myth

Heres a belief that gets people in trouble: "My loan was small. They wont bother with me. They're going after the big fish."

A Cincinnati man recieved 18 months in federal prison for $21,000 in PPP fraud. Twenty-one thousand dollars. He used the money for jail commissary services, CashApp, Grubhub, DoorDash, Facebook purchases, and hotels. Not exactly a criminal mastermind. Not exactly a sophisticated scheme. They prosecuted him anyway.

There is no minimum threshold below which the government loses interest. The DOJ is prosecuting $20,000 frauds with the same seriousness they bring to $2 million cases. Why? Becuase the evidence is clear. The conviction is essentially guaranteed. Federal prosecutors have a 97% conviction rate overall, and PPP cases are some of the easiest white-collar cases they've ever had. Every document is digitally timestamped. Every claim can be verified against tax records. There's no accounting complexity to hide behind, no ambiguous transactions to argue about.

The amount you took doesn't determine whether you get charged. It determines how much time you serve after conviction. The Connecticut District Court follows these sentencing patterns:

• Small loans ($10,000-$50,000): probation to 12 months
• Medium loans ($50,000-$250,000): 18 to 36 months in federal prison
• Large loans (over $250,000): 36 to 120 months - up to 10 years

But even those "small" consequences - probation, 12 months - come with a federal felony conviction that follows you forever. Try getting a job with a federal fraud conviction. Try maintaining a professional license. Try getting a mortgage. Try explaining it to your kids. That conviction dosent disappear becuase the amount was small.

The Defenses That Usually Don't Work

People come into our office with theories about why they'll be okay. Most of these theories don't survive contact with how federal prosecution actually works.

"I relied on my accountant." This defense requires proving the accountant gave you specific advice that you reasonably relied on, and that you provided the accountant with accurate information. If you gave your accountant false numbers - inflated payroll, fake employees, overstated expenses - you can't hide behind their involvement. You created the false information. They just processed it.

"The rules were confusing." The government doesn't need to prove you understood every nuance of PPP regulations. They need to prove you knowingly made false statements. If you certified that you had 25 employees when you had 3, that's not confusion about the rules. That's a lie.

"Everyone was doing it." This isn't a defense. It's an admission that you knew the conduct was questionable. And the fact that "everyone was doing it" is exactly why the government extended the statute of limitations - so they'd have time to prosecute all of them.

"I paid it back." Repayment can help at sentencing, but it doesn't make the fraud go away. The crime was complete when you submitted the false application. Returning the money after you realize you're being investigated is damage control, not a defense.

The defenses that sometimes work: genuine mistake in calculations (not inflated numbers, but actual math errors). Legitimate businesses that actualy qualified but had documentation problems. First-time offenders with strong cooperation who help the government recover money from others. But these require experienced federal defense counsel to navigate properly.

Heres the reality that defense lawyers understand. The government dosent need to prove you intended to commit fraud in the abstract. They need to prove you knowingly made a false statement. If the numbers on your PPP application dont match reality - fewer employees, less payroll, a business that wasnt actualy operating - thats enough. The "I didnt know it was fraud" defense basicly never works when the underlying facts are clearly false.

What To Do If You're Worried

Heres the worst thing you can do: nothing. Waiting to see what happens while evidence ages and cooperating witnesses multiply is not a strategy. Its denial.

The second worst thing is talking to investigators without a lawyer. Federal agents are trained to seem friendly, understanding, just trying to clear things up. They're not on your side. Everything you say can and will be used against you. The only acceptable response is polite, brief, and ends with "I'll have my attorney contact you."

Theres a critical distinction that practitioners understand but most people don't. Before the subpoena versus after the subpoena are completly different situations. If you come forward before there's an active investigation - voluntary disclosure with full cooperation - that can mean no prison time in some cases. Cooperation credit is built into the federal sentencing guidelines. The government wants cooperation. They want money back. They'll deal with people who help them recover it from others.

If you wait until after you're already being investigated, your options narrow dramaticaly. You're not offering cooperation anymore. You're trying to negotiate damage control from a position of weakness.

At Spodek Law Group, Todd has handled hundreds of federal fraud cases. The clients who call before the subpoena have options. The clients who call after are fighting for survival. Which position would you rather be in?

If you're reading this and worried, that worry is information. Listen to it. The evidence exists in permanent federal databases. The statute runs until 2030, 2031, 2032. Sentences are getting 40% harsher, not lighter. Your accountant might already be talking to prosecutors. The time to get ahead of this is now, not later.

Call 212-300-5196 before you talk to anyone else. Not becuase we're trying to scare you into hiring a lawyer. Becuase once you understand how this system actualy works - the digital trail, the 10-year clock, the cooperation dynamics - you'll realize that information is the only thing that can protect you.

Spodek Law Group exists for exactly this situation. Federal PPP fraud defense in Connecticut and nationwide. The Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway Suite 710, New York. We put this information on our website becuase most people have no idea how exposed they really are. Our goal isn't to frighten you. It's to make sure you understand what's happening before it's too late to do anything about it.

The chaos of COVID didn't protect you. It documented everything. The question now is what you do with that information.