BUFFALO, NY – U.S. Attorney JP Kennedy announced Thursday that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging 42-year-old Larry Jordan of Lancaster and 38-year-old Sutukh El a/k/a Curtis Jordan of Buffalo with multiple charges, including wire and bank fraud conspiracy for their alleged participation in a scheme to file fraudulent loan applications seeking nearly $7,000,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
"These brothers allegedly stole more than $600,000 which was intended to assist businesses and employees that have been crippled by the pandemic," said Kennedy. "Their greed in the face of a national crisis has rightly landed them in federal court under indictment. We will investigate and charge anyone who seeks to use emergency federal aid as a way to try to get rich quick."
The indictment alleges that Jordan and El conspired to submit at least eight fraudulent loan applications in an attempt to obtain nearly $7,000,000 for their company, 5 Stems Inc. In support of the fraudulent loan applications, they allegedly made numerous false and misleading statements about the companies' respective business operations and payroll expenses.
The indictment also alleges that the fraudulent loan applications were supported by fake documents, including falsified federal tax filings. For example, included in one application was a fraudulent IRS filing that appeared to be the company's 2019 federal unemployment tax return (FUTA) showing that the company paid nearly $3,300,000 in employee wages that year. In reality, the IRS has no record of such a filing.
Further, the brothers are accused of using fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to pay personal expenses, including the purchase of securities, home improvements, and a vehicle. To date, the government has seized more than $400,000 of the more than $600,000 that Larry Jordan and Sutukh El actually obtained through their fraudulent scheme.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
