ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jean R. Lavanture, a/k/a “JR,” a/k/a “Rudy Lavanture,” age 49, of Saugerties, New York, was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for conspiring to commit bank fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Lavanture pled guilty on September 2, 2021, admitting to fraudulently obtaining $4,870,781 in government-backed loans meant for businesses struggling with the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.  He conspired with Sean M. Andre to obtain $4,309,581 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans between June and August 2020, by submitting fraudulent loan applications in the names of four inactive companies that Lavanture controlled.  Each loan application grossly misrepresented each company’s employees and payroll.  Each application also included false corporate tax documents that Andre created as part of the scheme.  Lavanture admitted that none of his companies actually had a payroll or employees.

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