A St. David man, Roy Layne, was sentenced to four years in prison for filing false tax returns and loan applications to obtain COVID-19 disaster relief. Layne previously pleaded guilty to two counts of Wire Fraud and one count of Filing a False Claim.
Layne’s sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, and evidence presented in court, to create the appearance that he was operating several businesses, Layne filed paperwork with the IRS, applied for a business license from the City of Tucson, opened business bank accounts, and filed false employment-related tax returns.
In April 2020, he filed an application with the U.S. Small Business Administration, that claimed he operated a “wholesale” business with 17 employees that had revenue of more than a half million dollars a year. In 2021, he submitted a false application for a Paycheck Protection Act loan, claiming that same “wholesale” business had 31 employees and $1.2 million in revenue. Based on these and other false applications, Layne ultimately received over $300,000 in COVID-19 related loans to which he was not entitled.
Layne also used the personal identifying information and identities of other people to file false claims for refunds with the IRS. In total, Layne claimed over $7.4 million in false refunds, of which the IRS paid over $590,000.
In addition to the prison term, Layne was ordered to pay $856,692.91 in restitution to the United States.
When you set up a program that almost guarantees scamming, the scammers will come out.
Four years for stealing over seven million dollars? How come restitution is not even one million? Commit the crime and what keep six million? Not sure I understand this….
The IRS is inept but your reading comprehension is pretty poor. “In total, Layne claimed over $7.4 million in false refunds, of which the IRS paid over $590,000.”
He claimed of $7mil, but “only” got $890K. Not sure why he only had to give ~96% of that back …