In this Nov. 28, 2018, file photo, the Department of Justice seal is seen in Washington, D.C.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
- An Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison after he used COVID relief funds to invest in Tesla.
- Andrew Lloyd purchased 15,740 shares of Tesla with funds he fraudulently received from the Small Business Administration.
- Lloyd received more than $3.4 million in relief funds, which grew to more than $18 million.
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An Oregon man is going to federal prison after he fraudulently received COVID-19 relief funds and used the proceeds to invest in Tesla stock.
Andrew Lloyd of Lebanon, Oregon purchased 15,740 shares of Tesla in 2020, after having fraudulently received more than $3.4 million from the Small Business Administration’s COVID-19 assistance programs.
Lloyd submitted numerous CARES Act loan applications using business names and personal identification information of relatives and business associates without their consent. To receive the loans, Lloyd submitted false IRS forms listing 2019 wages supposedly paid by entities controlled by him.
Lloyd even used the same information across different business entities to file numerous loan applications, including the same physical location for numerous businesses and the same names of several dozen employees for different loans.
Rather than disburse the loans received to his apparent employees, Lloyd took more than $1.8 million of the funds received and transferred them to his brokerage account to purchase 15,740 shares of Tesla. Lloyd likely paid about $114 per share for his Tesla stake based on the timing of his fraudulent loans. Today, Tesla trades at about $1,056 per share, representing a gain of more than 800%.
Lloyd also purchased more than 25 properties throughout Oregon and California with the fraudulent funds. Altogether, authorities seized more than $18 million worth of securities and properties from Lloyd. The fraudulent stake in Tesla was worth more than $16 million as of Thursday.
Lloyd was charged by superseding criminal information with bank fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty to all three charges and was sentenced to four years in federal prison with five years of supervised release.
Lloyd was also ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution and forfeit 25 properties and the more than 15,000 shares of Tesla stock seized by law enforcement.
Read the original article on Business Insider 
