Posted on 02/06/2021 5:38:25 PM PST by simpson96
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A Bradenton man is accused of using $7.2 million from Paycheck Protection Program funds to buy a Central Florida mansion and three luxury cars, according to court records.
As reported by WKMG, Don Cisternino was indicted on two counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and three counts of illegal monetary transaction.
Records show Cisternino applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan established as part of the federal CARES Act relief bill.
Prosecutors said Cisternino is accused of using the money to buy a Maserati, a $89,000 Lincoln Navigator, a $251,000 Mercedes-Benz and a $3.1 million home in Chuluota.
Records show Cisternino established MagnifiCo in 2014. MagnifiCo was listed as a consulting company with few or no employees.
Cisternino is accused of saying MagnifiCo had 441 employees with an average monthly payroll of $2.88 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsls.com ...
That guy really gets around.
I don’t know. I think the banks just acted as clearinghouses for the SBA, which they always did do, but in this case I don’t think the process was restricted to banks. I got a very small PPP loan, and did it online with Lendio.com. I have since been solicited for Round 2 PPP SBA loans by several financial services firms - financing companies basically - that are not banks. I think Lendio sold them my information.
I agree about the main street small business owners. Real screw up there. But they were splashing a trillion dollars around. I read that they aren’t even going to bother looking into loans under $100,000 or thereabouts from round 1 PPP. And yes they should prosecute these abusers.
Yes yes, but look over there, Florida man bad, he took 7 million! Watch how fast they Feds convict and cage him! The ruling class in D.C. are probably telling the feds to assign an entire division to this!
Nothing like an audit to spoil a scam.
I have a feeling the second round is going to be dangerous. I think they are going to look at things a lot closer. If you don’t need it don’t take it, let the guys who are desperate get a chance. I wish they would have come up with something for restaurants and bars those are hard during the best of times. Hopefully some can start over.
That house was only $3.1 million? Here in Denver, we have slightly better than average homes, that don’t have pools or tennis courts, going for around $1 million. If that property was here it would likely run somewhere around $10 to 15 million.
a $251,000 Mercedes-Benz...
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Must be a custom limo. The most expensive Mercedes I could find on the net is a Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 starting at $161,550, which is a long way from a quarter-mil.
Go big or go home to the double-wide.
There’s a really big reason Joe Biden’s brother ran that TV ad through a Miami law firm.
What TV ad?
I don't think so. They put almost another trillion out there, and the Dems will probably get their $1.8 trillion more through reconciliation of the budget. The SBA is not what I'd consider the most robust agency out there. I don't believe they have or will beef up their enforcement all that much. They will look at the big sized loans, but not the small ones. Besides which, if I remember, I am personally on the hook and if I don't get the forgiveness I have to make payments over 5 years. That's a big workload (granting loans, looking into validity of applications, then all the loan forgiveness) for a small agency.
Yeah, they definitely should have carved out a program for bars & restaurants. Maybe because congress is dysfunctional and doesn't understand the issues; maybe because the shutdowns of B&R were regional. Congress doesn't understand that if you have no patrons, you really can't keep your payroll intact. At least they fixed the part about the loans being taxable to the signer upon forgiveness.
AMG GT R Coupe with all the bells and whistles comes close to $205,000. Dealers may be able to sell those at a premium since they are few and far between. The AMG G-Wagons with all the bells and whistles go for around $250,000 but the article said he bought another luxury SUV. But he also bought a Maserati so who knows.
Or should I say “we bought him”.
The bank of the United States government.
A hat tip to Florida Man. He took time off from running the streets naked while methed out and trying to stab someone. He had to fill out and file some complicated paperwork to get that loan. I see a big improvement in him.
Give “free” money to people and they will take it. But only politically connected types. My business is down 90% or so and I don’t qualify for a dime,
Maserati?
Lincoln?
With that kind of thinking no wonder he got caught...
upper left side of the pool looks like something..
My daughter and I have a small business. It has been shut down since March because it relies on venues being open. We contract everything out except for what we do so didn’t qualify for anything except the program done through the SBA. We received $2k. $1k for her and $1k for me since they parceled it out dependent on number of employees. And......we’re shutting down the business. The government killed it.
I’m so sorry. If you can’t manage to hold on a bit longer, I hope you will think of starting over once this farce gets out of the way. They didn’t think these things through very well.
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