CHARLOTTE — Steven Andiloro, 53, of Mooresville, was sentenced Thursday to 3 years and 9 months in prison for defrauding investors and stealing millions of dollars in COVID relief funds, said Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in a news release.
Andiloro orchestrated a $6.1 million investment fraud scheme and fraudulently obtaining over $2.6 million in COVID relief funds, according to documents filed in the case and the sentencing hearing.
From 2018 to 2021, Andiloro got victims to invest into real and fake businesses by making false representations about where and how the investors’ money would go.
For example, Andiloro told victims they would be invested into his car service business, while others thought they were investing into a non-existent marijuana dispensary business.
Those promises were not kept.
He instead used the money for personal expenses and operated a Ponzi scheme where he used money from new investors to pay earlier investors saying it was a profitable investment.
COVID relief fraud
From April 2020 to March 2021, Andiloro obtained funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by submitting fraudulent applications for disaster relief loans, which included fake employment data and inflated revenues, costs, and payroll expenses.
Andiloro received more than $2.6 million in disaster relief funds, which he used to fund his personal lifestyle and to pay for his investment scheme.
Andiloro is out on bond.
He will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. After prison, he will have three years of supervised release.
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