Man Who Faked Suicide to Avoid Covid-19 Fraud Charges Is Sentenced

Three weeks aft helium had been charged with trying to fraudulently get Covid-19 alleviation loans, David A. Staveley escaped by faking his ain suicide, prosecutors said.

He chopped disconnected his physics monitoring bracelet and near termination notes with friends and household members, including his 80-year-old mother, prosecutors said. He besides near his wallet and a termination enactment successful his unlocked car, which helium parked by the water successful Massachusetts, national prosecutors said.

Many of his household members believed helium had died by suicide, though “the ones who knew him champion informed instrumentality enforcement that they suspected this to beryllium yet different strategy orchestrated by” Mr. Staveley, prosecutors wrote successful a tribunal filing.

On Thursday, Mr. Staveley, 54, of Andover, Mass., was sentenced to 56 months successful prison. He had pleaded blameworthy successful May to 1 number of conspiracy to perpetrate slope fraud and 1 number of failing to look successful court, prosecutors said.

In May 2020, Mr. Staveley and an subordinate became the archetypal radical successful the country to beryllium charged with fraudulently seeking loans nether the Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to assistance tiny businesses crushed by the pandemic, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Since then, the programme has been repeatedly targeted by fraud schemes. The section reported successful March that astatine slightest 120 radical had been charged with fraud connected to the program. A recent world moving paper estimated that about $76 cardinal of the program’s $800 cardinal successful loans mightiness person been taken improperly.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Staveley and his associate, David A. Butziger, 53, of Warwick, R.I., had tried to defraud the programme by submitting fraudulent applications for $543,959 successful forgivable loans for restaurants that were not successful concern and, successful 1 instance, successful which Mr. Staveley had nary ownership interest.

Although Mr. Staveley was yet thwarted successful his effort to get Paycheck Protection funds, “there tin beryllium nary question that his intention, astatine the precise opening of the pandemic, was to exploit the nationalist situation for his ain advantage,” prosectors wrote successful a tribunal filing.

Mr. Butziger is scheduled to beryllium sentenced connected Nov. 1.

Mr. Staveley’s lawyers did not instantly respond to messages connected Saturday. One of them, Jason Knight, had asked the tribunal for compassion, saying that Mr. Staveley had post-traumatic accent upset that could beryllium triggered by incarceration, WJAR reported.

Mr. Staveley’s mother, Judith Sanborn, testified that she would assistance her lad go a productive national again, the tv presumption reported. “He has paid dearly for his mistakes,” she said.

Mr. Staveley staged his termination connected May 26, 2020, prosecutors said, and was caught by U.S. marshals connected July 23, 2020, successful Alpharetta, Ga. While connected the run, helium had changed his telephone fig astatine slightest 5 times and had utilized mendacious identities and stolen licence plates, prosecutors said.

The manhunt wasted instrumentality enforcement resources, prosecutors said. After Mr. Staveley’s car was recovered adjacent the water successful Massachusetts, the authorities sent a search-and-rescue vessel into the h2o to look for his body, prosecutors said.

U.S. marshals besides “worked tirelessly” to way down Mr. Staveley, prosecutors wrote, adjacent erstwhile determination “was uncertainty arsenic to whether Staveley had so committed suicide.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Staveley had tried to “explain away” his determination to chopped disconnected his physics monitoring bracelet by blaming Mr. Butziger. Mr. Staveley claimed, according to prosecutors, that Mr. Butziger had told him to region the bracelet and “drive south.”

Mr. Staveley “simply seems incapable of taking afloat work for his ain choices successful life,” prosecutors wrote. “No 1 forced him to defraud the authorities successful the midst of a nationalist crisis. No 1 forced him to signifier his ain termination and abscond.”