Former Colorado Springs man convicted of defrauding $500k of taxpayer funded COVID-19 relief money

Date: Sept. 23, 2024

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DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Charles Lacona, Jr., formerly of Colorado Springs, was found guilty by a federal jury on two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering related to fraudulent COVID-19 related funds he received through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to the facts established at trial, between April 2020 and April 2021, Lacona devised and participated in a scheme to defraud a lender of $513,732.50 in PPP loans. Lacona inflated payroll costs and gross receipts, made false statements and certifications, and submitted fabricated tax documents and payroll reports. During that same period, Lacona unsuccessfully applied for additional emergency government assistance through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Lacona used some of the fraudulently obtained funds to purchase a Cadillac CT6 for $67,704.13.

"This is another case of someone using for personal gain a program meant to help people suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Matt Kirsch. "I want the public to know that we are aggressively prosecuting people who stole from this relief program."

"These federal programs were designed to help families and small businesses facing financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Tom Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office. "Through our partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office, we will continue to aggressively pursue individuals who attempt to exploit federal relief programs for their personal benefit."

United States District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico presided over the trial. IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) handled the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Craig Fansler and Nicole Cassidy handled the prosecution.

Sentencing will be held at a later date.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

On July 11, 2023, the Attorney General selected the District of Colorado's U.S. Attorney's Office to head one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.

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