GREAT FALLS – An East Helena man who admitted lying in a scheme to receive more than $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for coronavirus relief aid and using the money instead for personal benefit was sentenced on June 7 to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Trevor Gene Lanius-McLeod, 48, pled guilty in December 2021 to bank fraud and to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. Chief Judge Morris also ordered $1,000,043.00 restitution, $125,000 of which will be paid jointly with co-defendant Kasey Wilson who was sentenced in March 2022.
In court documents, the government alleged that beginning in April 2020, Lanius-McLeod devised a scheme to fraudulently obtain money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Lanius-McLeod applied for four PPP loans through Valley Bank of Helena. In the applications, Lanius-McLeod made numerous false and material statements to obtain approximately $1,043,000 in fraudulent funds from the four loans. Additionally, Lanius-McLeod applied for and received a PPP loan in the amount of $349,000 on behalf of Renovated Montana Properties LLP, an entity Lanius-McLeod controlled.
Lanius-McLeod made numerous false statements on the PPP loan application. Without the false statements, Lanius-McLeod would not have qualified for a PPP loan. The defendant falsely stated that Renovated Montana Properties LLP had paid payroll taxes and had 25 employees. The company never paid payroll taxes and had no employees besides Lanius-McLeod.
The government further alleged that in a promissory note, the defendant agreed to use the funds for business-related expenses. None of the loan money was used for these purposes. Instead, the proceeds were spent on various personal expenses, including the mortgage on Lanius-McLeod’s personal residence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin M. Rubich prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and FBI, with assistance from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and U.S. Secret Service.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
