A Beverly Hills father and son were sentenced on Dec. 12 to federal prison for defrauding COVID-19 relief programs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ramiro Da Rosa Mendes, 61, of Beverly Hills, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution.
Mendes pleaded guilty in September to one count of wire fraud, admitting to fraudulently seeking more than $6.7 million in COVID-related small business loans for more than half a dozen fake companies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
His son, Ammon Jose de Pina Mendes, 27, of Beverly Hills, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $222,225 in restitution—the amount he admitted to obtaining illegally through the COVID-19 relief programs. He also pleaded guilty in September to one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
From April 2020 to August 2020, the elder Mendes schemed to fraudulently obtain federal disaster relief funds through the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs that were intended to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to his plea agreement.
Ramiro Mendes claimed to own numerous fake businesses purportedly based in Beverly Hills that didn’t have any operations or employees and didn’t exist prior to the pandemic—which includes One Wilshire Enterprises, Professional Music Services, and MB Property Management Group LLC, prosecutors said.
He also claimed to be the owner of fake real estate services companies, including Ramiro Mendes Real Estate Services and Real Estate Services, as well as other businesses that were registered out of state.
According to the elder Mendes’s plea agreement, filed in Los Angeles federal court, he admitted to submitting 19 applications for the COVID-19 relief programs that contained false and fraudulent information, including the purported existence of payroll expenses, phony tax forms, and the operational status of the businesses.
Another son of the elder Mendes, Mateus Pina Mendes, who also pleaded guilty to wire fraud, is awaiting sentencing in January.
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