Portland PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

You thought you were being smart. The PPP money hit your account in 2020, and instead of spending it on obvious luxuries, you invested it. Maybe Tesla stock. Maybe Oregon real estate. Maybe both. You watched that money grow and thought you had gotten away with something. Heres the problem nobody told you about: when federal prosecutors come calling, they dont just want your original loan amount back. They want everything that money touched. Every dollar of appreciation. Every property that increased in value. Every share that multiplied.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle PPP fraud cases across the country, and what were seeing in Portland right now should terrify anyone who thought investing fraudulent loan proceeds was somehow safer than spending them.

The Investment Trap Nobody Warned You About

Heres the thing most people dont understand about federal forfeiture law: the government can seize property "traceable to" your offense. That legal phrase sounds simple but its actualy devastating in practice. When you took $1.8 million in PPP funds and bought Tesla stock, you didnt hide the money. You created a perfect paper trail with exponential growth. That stock appreciated. And appreciated. And kept appreciating. Now instead of owing $1.8 million, your looking at $18 million in forfeitures.

This isnt hypothetical. This is exactly what happened to Andrew Aaron Lloyd right here in Portland. He submitted nine PPP applications, got six approved totaling $3.4 million, and thought he was clever by investing the proceeds. He bought 25 properties. He transferred $1.8 million into brokerage accounts and loaded up on Tesla shares. When federal investigators caught up with him, they didnt just want the original loan amounts back. They seized 15,740 shares of Tesla stock plus all 25 properties. The total forfeiture? Over $18 million.

Let that sink in. He defrauded the government of $3.4 million and lost $18 million.

Why Brokerage Accounts Are Worse Than Cash

If you had taken PPP money and spent it on cash purchases at garage sales, youd actualy be in a better position than someone who invested it through legitimate brokerages. That sounds backwards but its completly true. Heres why.

FINRA Rule 4512 requires brokerages to maintain detailed records of every customer transaction. Every deposit. Every purchase. Every sale. Every transfer. When federal prosecutors subpoena your brokerage records, they get a complete timeline of exactly where fraud proceeds went and what they became. Theres no ambiguity. Theres no "I dont remember where that money came from." The records are pristine.

Cash dispersal is hard to trace. Stock purchases are impossible to hide.

The Lloyd case demonstrates this perfectley. Investigators could trace every dollar from his fraudulent PPP applications through his bank accounts into his brokerage accounts and into specific stock purchases. They knew exactly which Tesla shares were purchased with fraud proceeds because the timing and amounts matched perfectly. There was no defense available. The paper trail was unimpeachable.

The Securities Tracing Problem

Heres something most people dont realize about how federal investigators trace stock purchases. When you transfer money from your bank to a brokerage account, both institutions create records. When you purchase shares, the brokerage records the exact time, price, and source of funds. When those shares appreciate, every dividend, every split, every price movement is documented. The blockchain gets all the attention but traditional securities tracking is actualy more comprehensive.

FINRA maintains whats called the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT. This system tracks every order, every trade, every modification across all U.S. equities markets. When investigators subpoena records, they dont just get your brokerage statements. They get a complete reconstruction of every transaction you ever made, timestamped to the millisecond. Theres no hiding. Theres no "I dont remember." The system remembers everything.

For Portland defendants who invested PPP funds in stocks, this creates a particularley uncomfortable situation. The government can show precisley when fraud proceeds entered your brokerage account, precisley which shares were purchased with those proceeds, and precisley how much those shares are worth today. The math is inescapable. And the forfeiture exposure grows every single day the market goes up.

Think about that for a second. Most crimes have a fixed loss amount. You stole $100,000, you owe $100,000. But investment fraud where proceeds were reinvested has a moving target. Your exposure today is higher than it was yesterday. And tomorrows exposure will be higher still if the market cooperates.

The District of Oregon Prosecution Pattern

Portland falls under the District of Oregon, and this district has developed a particular focus on PPP fraud cases involving asset appreciation. The U.S. Attorney's Office here dosent just pursue criminal charges. They pursue aggressive forfeiture claims that can exceed the original fraud amount by multiples.

Heres what were seeing in Oregon prosecutions:

Average sentence range: 36-48 months federal prison for substantial PPP fraud Restitution: Full loan amounts plus interest Forfeiture: Any property traceable to fraud proceeds, including appreciation Supervised release: Typically 3 years with strict financial monitoring

The combination is financially devastating. Your not just going to prison and paying back what you took. Your losing everything that money ever touched, at current market values. If you bought Oregon real estate in 2020 and its doubled in value, the government wants both halves.

Real Cases From Portland Courts

Let me walk you through what were seeing in actual Portland prosecutions so you understand the pattern.

Andrew Aaron Lloyd: 48 months federal prison, $4,086,098.04 in restitution, forfeiture of 25 properties plus 15,740 Tesla shares valued at over $18 million. He used relatives' identity information without there consent to submit applications. His accomplice Russell Schort was also convicted and owes $294,552 in restitution. The investment strategy that seemed smart in 2020 became his biggest liability by 2023.

Jeremy Clawson: This case shows how desperate and widespread PPP fraud became. Clawson applied for EIDL loans while literaly incarcerated at Snake River Correctional Institution. He was already in prison and still tried to defraud pandemic relief programs. Prosecutors used this to demonstrate the pervasive nature of pandemic fraud and justfiy harsher sentences across the board.

David Unitan and Daniel Cohen: 61 months federal prison. They initially fled but were eventualy apprehended. There scheme involved stolen Social Security numbers, which added aggravated identity theft charges on top of the fraud counts. Using someone elses identity to commit PPP fraud triggers mandatory consecutive sentencing.

The Appreciation Math Problem

OK so lets do the math that defendants in Portland are facing. This is the calculation that keeps federal defense attorneys up at night.

You took $500,000 in PPP funds in April 2020. Instead of spending it, you invested in a diversified portfolio that averaged 25% annual returns through the market recovery. By 2024, that $500,000 has become approximately $1.2 million. You think you can pay back the original amount and walk away. Wrong.

The government's position is that all $1.2 million is "traceable to" your offense. They dont care that you made smart investment decisions. They dont care that the money appreciated through market forces beyond your control. The legal theory is simple: you wouldnt have those gains if you hadnt committed fraud to get the principal. Therefore, the gains are proceeds of fraud.

Your investment returns belong to the government. Every penny.

This is why early intervention matters so desperatly in Portland PPP cases. If you come forward before investigators have traced your assets, if you cooperate before indictment, if you work with experienced defense counsel to structure a resolution, you might be able to negotiate forfeiture of the original amount rather than the appreciated value. But that window closes fast, and once your indicted, the governments position hardens significently.

Why Portland Is Different

Portland presents unique factors that make PPP fraud cases here particuarly complicated.

Tech Investment Culture: Portlands proximity to the Pacific Northwest tech corridor means defendants here were more likely to invest fraud proceeds in technology stocks. Those investments appreciated dramatically during the pandemic tech boom, creating massive forfeiture exposure. A Portland defendant who bought Amazon, Microsoft, or Tesla in 2020 is facing forfeitures that dwarf the original fraud amounts.

Real Estate Appreciation: Oregon property values increased substancially between 2020 and 2023. Portland metro real estate that was purchased with PPP funds has appreciated 30-50% in many cases. The government wants the current value, not the purchase price. This means defendants who bought property are facing forfeitures that feel completley disproportionate to there original offense.

Cannabis Industry Complications: Oregon's legal cannabis industry created unique PPP eligibility questions. Some cannabis businesses received PPP loans despite federal illegality of marijuana under federal law. These cases involve extraordinarley layered legal issues that require defense attorneys who understand both federal fraud prosecution and cannabis industry regulations. The question of wheather a cannabis business was ever eligible for PPP loans in the first place adds another dimension to these prosecutions that dosent exist in other jurisdictions.

Small Business Density: Portland has an unusualy high concentration of small businesses, which meant high PPP application volume per capita. This created both more fraud opportunities and more enforcement attention. The District of Oregon received additional resources specificaly to handle pandemic fraud cases.

The Identity Theft Multiplier

Heres something that caught many Portland defendants off guard: using someone elses identity to apply for PPP loans triggers aggravated identity theft charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. This carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence. Not concurrent. Consecutive.

Andrew Lloyd used his relatives' information without there knowledge to submit applications. This seemed safer than making up completley fictitious businesses because the relatives were real people with real tax histories. But the moment he used there information without consent, he crossed into identity theft territory. Those two extra years are mandatory regardless of any other factors.

Were seeing this pattern repeatedly in Portland cases. Defendants think using family members' information is somehow less criminal than using strangers' information. Its not. The law dosent distinguish. Using anyones identity without consent for fraud purposes triggers the enhancement. If you submitted applications using your brothers name, your cousins Social Security number, your parents business history, you have identity theft exposure on top of fraud exposure.

The Statute of Limitations Reality

Some Portland defendants have convinced themselves that enough time has passed. The fraud happened in 2020, they think, maybe the statute of limitations will run. This reflects a dangerous misunderstanding of federal law.

The PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act of 2022 extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud to ten years. That means prosecutions can be initiated until 2030 or later depending on when the fraud occured. You are not safe because four years have passed. You will not be safe for another six years at minimum.

Federal prosecutors in Portland are methodicaly working through cases. There not rushing. There building careful cases with complete paper trails. The fact that you havent been contacted yet means nothing. It might mean there still gathering evidence. It might mean your further down the priority list. It might mean there waiting for cooperating witnesses to provide additional information. What it definitley dosent mean is that your case has been forgotten.

What Actually Happens In Portland Federal Court

Let me tell you what the process actualy looks like when Portland defendants get charged with PPP fraud. This is the reality, not the television version.

Initial Appearance: You appear before a magistrate judge within 24-48 hours of arrest. The government argues for detention or sets conditions of release. For PPP fraud defendants with significant assets, the government often seeks substantial bail with property bonds and strict financial monitoring. You cant sell assets, you cant transfer funds, you cant do anything that might deplete the forfeiture pool.

Discovery Phase: The government produces its evidence. In PPP cases, this typicaly includes complete bank records, brokerage statements, PPP application documents, SBA records, and testimony from financial institutions. The paper trail is usualy overwhelming. Theres rarely any factual dispute about what happened. The question becomes what to do about it.

Plea Negotiations: The vast majority of PPP fraud cases resolve through plea agreements. Trials are rare because the evidence is generaly conclusive. The negotiation centers on charge selection, sentencing recommendations, and forfeiture amounts. This is where experienced defense counsel makes the biggest difference. An attorney who understands how to present mitigation, how to structure forfeiture agreements, how to position for favorable sentencing can save years of imprisonment and millions in forfeitures.

Sentencing: Federal sentencing follows the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines with various adjustments based on loss amount, number of victims, role in offense, acceptance of responsability, and cooperation. In Portland, judges have shown willingness to vary downward from guideline ranges for defendants who demonstrate genuine remorse and make substantial restitution efforts early.

The Cooperation Calculation

Theres a calculation every PPP fraud defendant needs to make, and most make it too late. Federal prosecutors in Portland are aggressivley pursuing "upstream" defendants. They want the facilitators, the professional fraudsters, the people who helped others submit false applications. If you have information about such people, your cooperation has value.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 5K1.1, the government can move for a sentencing reduction based on substantial assistance. This is often the only way to get below mandatory minimum sentences or achieve reductions of 50% or more from guideline ranges. But heres the critical point: cooperation is most valuable before indictment. Once your charged, your leverage decreases. Once your convicted, it decreases further. Once your sentenced, its nearly worthless.

If you know about facilitators, document forgers, or organized fraud schemes, that information has a shelf life. The government may already know what you know. They may already have cooperating witnesses providing the same information. Your value depends on providing something new, something corroborated, something that leads to additional prosecutions.

Working With Spodek Law Group

Todd Spodek and our team at Spodek Law Group have handled complex federal fraud cases across the country, including cases involving substantial asset forfeiture issues. What makes PPP fraud cases particuarly challenging is the intersection of criminal liability, civil forfeiture, and the appreciation problem we've been discussing.

Our approach to Portland PPP cases involves several critical steps:

Asset Analysis: Before any negotiation, we need to understand exactly what assets exist, how there connected to fraud proceeds, and what the appreciation exposure looks like. This analysis informs every subsequant decision.

Early Intervention: If your not yet charged, the strategic options are significently broader. We can sometimes negotiate pre-indictment resolutions that minimize both criminal exposure and forfeiture amounts.

Forfeiture Negotiation: The government's initial forfeiture demand is rarely there final position. Skilled negotiation can often reduce forfeiture amounts, preserve exempt assets, and structure payment arrangements that dont completley devastate families.

Sentencing Advocacy: Federal sentencing is not automatic. Effective advocacy regarding mitigating factors, cooperation credit, and variance arguments can make the difference between years of additional imprisonment.

If your facing potential PPP fraud charges in Portland, if investigators have contacted you, if you know your application contained false information, the time to act is now. Call 212-300-5196 for a confidential consultation. Were not here to judge what happened. Were here to get you through whats coming with the least possible damage to your future.

The Path Forward

Heres the bottom line for anyone in Portland facing PPP fraud exposure: the investment that seemed smart in 2020 may be your biggest liability in 2024. Every dollar of appreciation, every property value increase, every stock gain is potential forfeiture exposure. The government dosent want you to pay back what you took. They want everything that money became.

The longer you wait, the more your investments grow, and the more the government will eventually take.

This sounds paradoxical but its the reality of federal forfeiture law. Your gains are there gains. Your smart decisions are there windfall. The only way to potentially limit this exposure is through early, strategic intervention with experienced federal defense counsel.

Dont convince yourself that time is on your side. The ten-year statute of limitations means prosecutors have until 2030 or beyond. Dont convince yourself that your investments are safe because there in your name. The government can and will trace proceeds through any number of transactions. Dont convince yourself that the original fraud amount is the limit of your exposure. Andrew Lloyd learned otherwise when his $3.4 million fraud became an $18 million forfeiture.

The District of Oregon is activley prosecuting these cases. The U.S. Attorney's Office has dedicated resources and experienced fraud prosecutors. IRS Criminal Investigation, FBI, and SBA Office of Inspector General are all providing investigative support. If you have exposure, assume they will eventualy find you. The only question is whether you act now while strategic options still exist, or wait until the knock comes and those options have permanentley closed.