Current:Home > StocksNY man pleads guilty in pandemic loan fraud-LoTradeCoin
NY man pleads guilty in pandemic loan fraud
View Date:2024-12-23 19:20:33
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A politically active western New York businessman has admitted to a multimillion-dollar pandemic loan fraud that, prosecutors have said, went partly to his campaign coffers for an unsuccessful bid for county office.
Court records show Hormoz Mansouri, who sought the Democratic nomination for Erie County comptroller in 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to federal bank fraud and fraud conspiracy charges.
“I acted with willful intent to violate the law,” Mansouri told the court, according to The Buffalo News. The 70-year-old remains free on $250,000 bond until his sentencing, set for February. Sentencing guidelines in his case indicate a prison term between 33 and 41 months, according to the newspaper.
Mansouri had been set to go to trial next month.
Trained as an engineer, Mansouri established several businesses in the Buffalo, New York, area. He has had ties to local and state politics for decades.
He was involved in billionaire Tom Golisano’s ultimately successful bids to buy the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres in the early 2000s. The Sabres dealings helped acquaint Mansouri with the political sphere, as Golisano was a founding member of the New York Independence Party and was its candidate for governor in 1994, 1998 and 2002. Golisano sold the Sabres in 2011.
Mansouri, of the Buffalo suburb of Amherst, became a prominent political donor — mainly to Democrats, but also to Republicans, according to The Buffalo News.
According to his indictment, Mansouri reaped about $3 million in all from the pandemic loan fraud scheme, and $200,000 of it went to his county comptroller campaign account. The specific charges to which he pleaded guilty weren’t those that concerned the alleged payment to the campaign fund and to various other bank accounts and expenses, including the purchase of a Lexus.
Mansouri admitted in court that he inflated his businesses’ payroll costs and employee numbers on federal pandemic relief loans applications, The Buffalo News reported. The loan initiatives, the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, were launched to help U.S. businesses weather the COVID-19-related lockdowns and upheaval that began in spring 2020.
Mansouri’s lawyer, Herbert Greenman, said after Friday’s court session that his client was “a kind and generous man” who became rattled by what the pandemic might to do his business, according to the newspaper.
“He did something that he never felt conceivable,” the attorney said. “Sadly, he feels that he let his family, friends and his country down. For that, he will be forever sorry.”
veryGood! (67)
Related
- 'Treacherous conditions' in NYC: Firefighters battling record number of brush fires
- NPR editor Uri Berliner resigns after essay accusing outlet of liberal bias
- Voter ID took hold in the North Carolina primary. But challenges remain for the fall election
- Stand Up for Eminem's Daughter Hailie Jade Partying on Bachelorette Trip to Florida Before Her Wedding
- Brush fire erupts in Brooklyn's iconic Prospect Park amid prolonged drought
- Actors who portray Disney characters at Disneyland poised to take next step in unionization effort
- New York competition, smoking, internet betting concerns roil US northeast’s gambling market
- NBA play-in tournament: 76ers snag No. 7 seed, Bulls KO Hawks behind Coby White's career night
- New Mexico secretary of state says she’s experiencing harassment after the election
- Dr Pepper is bringing a new, limited-time coconut flavor to a store near you: What to know
Ranking
- FanDuel Sports Network regional channels will be available as add-on subscription on Prime Video
- 'Sasquatch Sunset': Jesse Eisenberg is Bigfoot in possibly the strangest movie ever made
- Tip leads to arrest in cold case killing of off-duty DC police officer in Baltimore
- YouTuber Abhradeep Angry Rantman Saha Dead at 27 After Major Surgery
- NFL coaches diversity report 2024: Gains at head coach, setbacks at offensive coordinator
- Boeing ignores safety concerns and production problems, whistleblower claims
- Air National Guard changes in Alaska could affect national security, civilian rescues, staffers say
- Simone Biles thought 'world is going to hate me' after she left team final at Tokyo Games
Recommendation
-
Florida man’s US charges upgraded to killing his estranged wife in Spain
-
Escaping Sudan's yearlong civil war was just the first hurdle to this American family's dream come true
-
Sydney Sweeney Slams Producer for Saying She Can't Act and Is Not Pretty
-
O.J. Simpson was chilling on the couch drinking beer, watching TV 2 weeks before he died, lawyer says
-
American Idol’s Triston Harper, 16, Expecting a Baby With Wife Paris Reed
-
Woman at risk of losing her arm after being attacked by dog her son rescued, brought home
-
NPR editor Uri Berliner resigns after essay accusing outlet of liberal bias
-
Vermont farms are still recovering from flooding as they enter the growing season