JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and engaging in an illegal monetary transaction with COVID-19 relief funds.
Kenneth Steven Landers, 57, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, during 2020 and 2021, Landers applied for federally backed Paycheck Protection Program loans ten times, requesting a total of $1,410,000.
The Department of Justice says he submitted the applications on behalf of four different corporate entities that he controlled, specifically, the American Fallen Veterans Service Project Inc., Tire Empire LLC, Maypops LLC, and Florida United Inc.
Officials say seven of his ten PPP loan applications were approved and funded in the total amount of $910,000, which was deposited into financial accounts that he controlled.
Rather than use the loan proceeds exclusively to pay employees or for other allowable expenses under the PPP, Landers used funds for his personal benefit, says the DOJ. For example, he paid off the mortgages on his home and a business property, purchased an 18 kt gold Rolex watch, and bought a vintage Jaguar XKE Roadster.
He also wrote checks to himself, transferred funds electronically to personal accounts, paid down personal debt, and made approximately $113,000 in cash withdrawals of funds traceable to PPP loan proceeds.
As part of his plea agreement, Landers agreed to forfeit $910,000, the proceeds of the wire fraud, as well as two pieces of real estate that he purchased or funded with the proceeds.
