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A Dauphin County restaurant owner faces $2.6 million in fines and up to 90 years in prison after allegedly defrauding the federal government out of $237,500 in loans from the Small Business Administration.
Scott Levy, owner of the Hershey Road Family Restaurant in Harrisburg, applied for $227,500 in loans through the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) before spending a majority of the money on personal expenses and transferring $125,000 to his mother in Florida, according to federal prosecutors.
Levy, 58, was charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.
According to allegations filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Levy was approved for $159,900 in EIDL proceeds in June 2020 and a $77,600 PPP loan in May 2020 on behalf of his Harrisburg restaurant.
The court alleges that Levy did not use the funds for their intended purpose when he gave half the funds to his mother to place in safe deposit boxes and spent the rest on personal expenditures.
His business, Hershey Road Family Restaurant, closed last July.
The case is to be consolidated with another tax fraud case that Levy plead guilty to last November.
Levy admitted late last year to tax fraud and related offenses after he failed to pay more than $230,000 in federal income and payroll taxes from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2018.
Levy’s attorney, Joshua Lock of Harrisburg-based Law Offices of Joshua D. Lock, said that the firm will not be commenting on the case at this time.