Mug Shot Monday – 30 Months for Fraudulent SBA Car Wash Loan
November 4, 2013
By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report
Joseph N. Gagliano was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in obtaining $3.5 million in fraudulent SBA loans in Arizona.
Gagliano sought SBA loans for a carwash. In obtaining the loans, Gagliano used his father’s name and misrepresented his father’s ownership interests in car wash ventures that Gagliano actually owned.
Gagliano forged signatures, altered bank statements and submitted bogus lease agreements.
Gagliano also misrepresented on the SBA loan applications that his father had injected nearly $1.5 million in personal cash into the construction of the car wash. He said his father had a personal net worth in excess of $1.5 million and assets valued at just under $4 million. Also, his father would be the primary on-site manager of the car wash. All were lies.
The fraud resulted in nearly $3 million in losses to the Small Business Administration, Wells Fargo Bank, and JP Morgan Chase.
Quoting SBA’s Inspector General, “Corrupt borrowers who attempt to defraud SBA’s loan programs will be aggressively pursued by our office. This successful investigation and prison sentence demonstrates our commitment to insure that SBA loans are only disbursed to deserving small businesses helping to grow our economy.”