LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Riverside County man who purported to own a pothole- repair company was found guilty by a federal jury today of using hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program for personal expenses such as luxury cars after he obtained a loan for more than $7 million on behalf of his business.
Oumar Sissoko, 59, of Temecula, was found guilty in Los Angeles federal court of four counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Evidence at the three-day trial showed Sissoko obtained a $7.25 million loan for his downtown Los Angeles-based company, Road Doctor California LLC, after submitting a PPP loan application in April 2020.
In the loan application, Sissoko claimed that Road Doctor was in the process of hiring 450 full-time employees and would have average monthly payroll expenses of $2.9 million. When he applied for the loan, Sissoko acknowledged the funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll, or make mortgage interest payments, lease payments and utility payments.
In the days after obtaining the loan, Sissoko misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of the proceeds for, among other things, the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz, paying off a loan on a BMW and buying an Apple computer for more than $5,000.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter set a July 18 sentencing hearing, at which time Sissoko will face up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the four wire fraud counts, prosecutors noted.
Last month, a federal jury deadlocked on the charges against Sissoko and a mistrial was declared. The second trial resulted in Friday's verdict.
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