DOJ Charges Man With Fraudulently Taking $8.5M In PPP Bailout, Spent Hundreds Of Thousands At Casino

Via press release from the Justice Department:

A California man was arrested today and charged with fraudulently seeking over $8.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

Andrew Marnell, 40, of Los Angeles, California, was charged by criminal complaint, unsealed today upon his arrest, in the Central District of California with one count of bank fraud.

The complaint alleges that Marnell obtained approximately $8.5 million in PPP loans through applications to insured financial institutions, and others, on behalf of different companies.

The complaint alleges that Marnell caused to be submitted fraudulent loan applications that made numerous false and misleading statements about the companies’ respective business operations and payroll expenses.

The complaint further alleges that Marnell then transferred the fraudulently-obtained loan proceeds to his brokerage account to make risky stock-market bets and similarly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulently-obtained loan proceeds at a Las Vegas casino.

In a normal world, this would roll heads at the Treasury Department. Tomorrow, it will be forgotten.