NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Brooklyn man successfully applied for a $1.9 million COVID-19 relief loan by submitting fake tax forms — and used some of the money to buy a Bentley Continental and a Cadillac Escalade, prosecutors said Monday.
Leon Miles, 51, applied for a $1,904,593 Paycheck Protection Program loan in May by falsely claiming his Brooklyn-based limited liability company needed the money to pay 50 employees, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a release.
Miles received the loan after he submitted fake personal and business tax returns that "were never filed with the IRS," prosecutors said.
Not long after the money hit his savings account, Miles bought a 2020 Bentley Continental for around $250,000 and a 2020 Cadillac Escalade for approximately $100,000, according to prosecutors.
He was arrested and charged with wire fraud on Monday, the attorney's office said.
"At a time when so many are suffering from the devastating economic effects of the ongoing pandemic, Miles allegedly enriched himself at the taxpayers' expense, stealing funds that were intended by Congress to keep businesses afloat and workers on payroll," Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement.
"Together with our agency partners, this office will bring to justice those who take advantage of a global crisis to commit such crimes," he added.
Miles' attorney information wasn't immediately available Monday.
