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A Massachusetts man who admitted to lying on his application for federal coronavirus business stimulus funds and using some of the $400,000 he received to pay his mortgage has been sentenced to 15 months in prison, federal prosecutors said.

In addition to the time behind bars, Adley Bernadin, 44, of Stoughton, was sentenced last week to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $280,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Bernadin in May 2020 submitted a fraudulent application on behalf of a purported home health care company for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, falsifying a tax form and falsely claiming the business had a monthly payroll of $175,200, prosecutors said.

He used the money to pay his home mortgage and wrote checks to people he knew, including $135,000 to someone described by prosecutors as his wife or partner.

Bernadin was arrested in March and pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud.

The PPP program, enacted as part of the CARES Act in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering economically from the effects COVID-19 pandemic, provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other approved expenses.

Massachusetts Man Gets 15 Months for PPP Fraud

by The Associated Press time to read: 1 min
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