Hull Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge Arising from Fraudulent CARES Act Small Business Loans

BOSTON – A Hull man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with submitting fraudulent documentation in order to receive CARES Act small business loans.  

Shane Spierdowis, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for Feb. 24, 2022. Spierdowis was indicted on March 30, 2021.

Spierdowis used false Social Security numbers and fraudulent documentation to apply for federally funded Small Business Administration (SBA) loans issued in connection with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Spierdowis obtained an SBA Paycheck Protection Program loan of $101,517 in the name of a Limited Liability Company (LLC), the funds for which were wired to a bank in Massachusetts. Spierdowis provided a fraudulent corporate bank statement reflecting a balance exceeding $220,000 but dated before the pertinent bank account was ever opened.

Spierdowis also obtained an SBA Economic Injury Disaster loan (EIDL) in the amount of $89,900 using a separate LLC. With respect to both loans, Spierdowis used Social Security numbers different from his own. He also submitted fraudulent federal tax forms for both LLCs that included his signature, as president of each LLC, and the purported payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages to LLC employees during each quarter in 2019. In reality, however, for part of Q1 2019 and all of Q2 – Q4 2019, Spierdowis was in federal custody after violating his probation arising from a conviction for conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Spierdowis informed the court of his efforts to obtain work in early 2019 without mentioning anything about his supposed presidency of either LLC.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Frederick J. Regan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office, made the announcement. The Hull Police Department provided valuable assistance with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Abely, Chief of Mendell’s Criminal Division, is prosecuting the case.

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. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.