Crime & Safety
Glen Cove Doctor Pleads Guilty To COVID Relief Loan Scheme: Feds
The doctor faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as forfeiture of $3,796,849.50 and a fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors say.
GLEN COVE, NY — A Glen Cove doctor pleaded guilty Friday to fraudulently obtaining nearly $4 million in Payment Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDLP) loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Konstantino Zarkadas, 48, entered the plea at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. He faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as forfeiture of $3,796,849.50 and a fine of up to $250,000.
Prosecutors allege that, between March and July 2020, Zarkadas fraudulently received 11 PPP and EIDLP loans, totaling approximately $3.7 million, on behalf of the corporate entities he controlled. The funds, they added, were used "for extravagant personal purchases and other impermissible purposes," such as financing the down payment on a $1.75 million yacht.
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To conceal the fraudulent nature of the purchase, prosecutors said Zarkadas made the check payable to a family member who was not the ultimate beneficiary of the funds and, in the check's memo line, falsely indicated that the funds were "repayment for payroll."
Congress created the PPP and EIDLP as part of the CARES Act, which was enacted on March 27, 2020. Designed to stimulate the economy, the CARES Act provided emergency financial assistance to qualifying businesses and households during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The PPP allowed small businesses to receive loans that they would use for specified expenses, including payroll costs and interest on mortgages. The EIDLP provided low-interest financing to small businesses, renters, and homeowners suffering from the pandemic's economic impacts.
"It's always a shame to see the rampant abuse of programs designed to help ordinary people struggling through the pandemic," said Thomas Fattorusso, special agent-in-charge for the IRS-Criminal Investigation, New York. Dr. Zarkadas chose greed over honesty by financing a luxury lifestyle on the backs of America's taxpayers."
