On Thursday, a Chinese man was sentenced to more than four years in prison after admitting to defrauding the federal government of $20 million in coronavirus relief funds intended to help devastated enterprises.
Muge Ma was sentenced to four years and four months in prison by United States District Judge Richard M Berman at a sentencing hearing in Manhattan.
The judge said the sentence was justified because of the nature of the offenses and the necessity to warn others about exploiting government programs intended to assist people in times of national catastrophe.
Ma, 38, was detained in May 2020 by federal investigators, who claimed he had applied to at least five banks in an attempt to obtain more than $20 million in government-guaranteed loans through the Paycheck Protection Program and
the Disaster Loans for Economic Injuries. Both programs were created for businesses that had been damaged by coronavirus outbreaks.
Authorities believe he falsely claimed to be paying millions of dollars in compensation to hundreds of employees through two firms he owned. Prosecutors claimed he supplied bogus bank, tax, insurance, and payroll documents to support the claims, as well as providing banks with connections to websites that identified the companies as “global.”
In fact, they claimed, Ma was working alone out of his $1.5 million Manhattan condo at the time, falsely claiming that one of his companies represented New York state and was assisting then-Governor Andrew Cuomo in obtaining COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment for front-line workers.
Ma, a valid permanent resident who has been in prison since his arrest in May 2020, has apologized several times before the punishment was handed down. He arrived in the United States in 2011 on a student visa.
“I adore America,” Ma expressed her admiration for the country. “I sincerely apologize to my country, America.”
He repeatedly apologized for his offenses and added, “I loathe myself so much,” in addition to condemning jail circumstances over the last two years as “filthy, unpleasant, terribly cruel.”
“Mr Ma, I don’t have any doubt about how regretful you are,” Berman said, interrupting Ma’s self-criticism.
“I’m not looking for blood from you,” the judge remarked before urging Ma to put his sins behind him and concentrate on how he might succeed in the future.
According to prosecutors, Ma’s deception persuaded one bank to authorize and distribute more than $800,000 in loan funds for one of Ma’s enterprises, despite the fact that the funds were frozen during the inquiry. They stated that another $650,000 in loans had been granted, as well as a $10,000 loan advance.
According to US Attorney Damian Williams, Ma committed his crimes just days after Congress approved billions of dollars to aid small businesses devastated by the pandemic.
“Muge Ma saw it as an opportunity to enrich himself,” Williams explained, “by applying for millions of dollars in money to pay wages to hundreds of employees who never existed.”
Muge Ma was apprehended by federal authorities in May 2020, who claimed he had applied to at least five banks in an attempt to obtain more than $20 million in government-guaranteed loans through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
Source: AP
