Former Hollywood film executive will plead guilty to pocketing fraudulent COVID-19 loans

A Beverly Hills resident and former chief government of Aviron Footage has agreed to plead responsible to federal fraud and cash laundering fees after he pocketed almost $1 million in Paycheck Safety Program loans meant to assist companies pay staff in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors stated.

William Sadleir, 67, agreed to plead responsible to 1 depend every of financial institution fraud and cash laundering and is scheduled to formally enter the pleas subsequent week, in keeping with an announcement Thursday by the U.S. legal professional’s workplace for the Central District of California.

He has already pleaded responsible in a separate federal fraud case in New York for misappropriating greater than $25 million that was invested in Aviron, prosecutors stated.

Within the California case, Sadleir filed functions that fraudulently sought greater than $1.7 million in PPP loans for 3 Aviron firms that had already shut down, prosecutors stated. Such loans had been assured by the U.S. Small Enterprise Administration and designed to be forgiven for firms that spent many of the cash on payroll prices and averted slicing jobs.

“In keeping with court docket paperwork, Sadleir obtained the loans for 3 Aviron entities by falsely representing that the funds could be used to help payroll bills for 33 staff at every firm, when in truth the entities had been now not operational,” prosecutors stated.

The loans had been funded Could 1, 2020, and inside days, Sadleir transferred almost $1 million to his private checking account, prosecutors stated.

He spent “a considerable quantity” of the loans on utility payments, mortgage bills and his private legal professional, amongst different issues, in keeping with his plea settlement.

Sadleir didn’t use any of the loans to pay staff, prosecutors stated.

“Following the invention of the fraudulent mortgage functions, federal brokers seized $308,058 of fraudulent mortgage proceeds from an Aviron account, and Sadleir returned $1,122,090 to the financial institution that funded the loans,” prosecutors stated.

The Small Enterprise Administration suffered losses of $282,566, and Sadleir agreed to pay full restitution as a part of his plea settlement, prosecutors stated.

He faces a statutory most sentence of fifty years in federal jail, prosecutors stated, including that they’ve agreed to suggest that his sentence ought to run concurrently with a sentence to be imposed in his pending case in U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.

Sadleir is scheduled to be sentenced Could 10 within the New York case for misappropriating investments in Aviron, prosecutors stated.

In that case, Sadleir pleaded responsible in January to 2 counts of wire fraud related to his participation in two schemes associated to investments made by a New York-based fund to Aviron Footage LLC and its entities, in keeping with the U.S. legal professional’s workplace for the Southern District of New York.

“William Sadleir used his expertise for promoting tales to con a New York funding fund out of over $30 million utilizing a pretend firm, pretend paperwork, and even a pretend id,” stated U.S. Atty. Damian Williams. “In a brazen plot that may very well be ripped from one of many movies he distributed, Sadleir even made up a personality that he named ‘Amanda Stevens,’ and masqueraded as her in an effort to get away along with his fraud. We referred to as a wrap on Sadleir’s scheming, and he now faces vital time in federal jail.”

Sadleir’s legal professional within the California case, Adam Olin, declined to remark for this story.