Fraud Friday – Guilty PPP Fraudster Obstructs Justice Amongst His Other 44 Charges
June 30, 2023
Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor
Fraud Friday – Guilty PPP Fraudster Obstructs Justice Amongst His Other 44 Charges
“The brazen fraud scheme committed in this case simply for personal gain harmed legitimate businesses in need. This conviction sends a clear message that those who defraud the federal government of pandemic relief funds will be held accountable and brought to justice for their actions,” says Jon Ellwanger, Special Agent in Charge, Western Region, OIG for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and CFPB. “I commend our agents and their federal law enforcement partners for their hard work and persistence, which ultimately led to this conviction.”
The former CEO of All Hands on Deck, a residential reentry home for probationers, parolees, homeless individuals, and individuals with mild mental illness, was recently found guilty of 44 felony counts. Attila Colar executed numerous schemes which included defrauding the organizations that placed people in transitional housing and defrauding multiple PPP lenders. The 44 counts that the jury found Colar guilty of include:
- Conspiracy
- Bank fraud
- Wire fraud
- Aggravated identity theft
- False statements to a bank
- Destruction of property to prevent a search
- Possession of a firearm as a felon
- Making a false tax return
- Obstruction
- Witness tampering
In 2020, Colar took advantage of lenders and the SBA by submitting deceiving PPP loan applications for All Hands on Deck. Although the business had no salaried employees other than himself, he claimed that the business had 73 to 81 employees. He then continued the fraud by submitting fraudulent loan applications under the names of other companies including 2 dormant companies and other fake businesses. On some of the applications, Colar used the names of two people who were living in the residential facility and claimed their fake businesses had hundreds of employees and million-dollar payrolls. His PPP fraud scheme amounted to 16 fraudulent loan applications seeking to obtain more than $34.6 million.
Before his PPP fraud scheme and starting in 2018, Colar manipulated companies into referring individuals to his residential company. One of the companies was GEO Reentry which provides treatment and supervision programs to justice-impacted individuals. Colar convinced the company by using falsified fire inspection clearance reports, a false letter of recommendation, false security clearance documents, and false and misleading information about its staff.
Colar’s crimes didn’t end with the aforementioned schemes:
- He destroyed documents during a search of his home.
- He lied to the FBI about a firearm.
- He gave the grand jury falsified records.
- He impersonated a witness’s Power of Attorney.
- He coached a witness to say that they were the CEO of one of the false businesses he submitted a PPP loan application for.
- He concealed a witness in multiple hotels and other locations to prevent the witness from testifying in front of the federal grand jury.
After his guilty verdict, he is being held without bail until his sentencing in September.