Camden County Company Settles Matter Alleging Receipt Of Improper Cares Act Loans

Newark, N.J. – A furniture rental company based in Pennsauken, New Jersey entered into a settlement agreement with the United States resolving allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by taking a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to which it was not entitled, United States Attorney John Giordano announced today.

According to the allegations in the complaint and the contentions of the United States in the settlement agreement:

In January 2021, American Furniture Rentals, Inc. (AFR) applied for and received a $2 million PPP loan.  Under the eligibility rules in effect at that time, a company was required to have 300 employees or less to qualify for a PPP loan. Despite the fact that AFR had more than 300 employees at the time, AFR certified in its loan application that it was eligible to participate in the PPP program. After receiving the PPP loan, AFR sought and received forgiveness of the total amount of the loan, plus interest that had accrued.

AFR fully cooperated in the investigation and resolution of this matter. In accordance with the terms of the settlement agreement, AFR will pay the United States $2,907,703. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties, called relators, to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.

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 Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The qui tam case is captioned United States ex rel. Verity Investigations, LLC v. American Furniture Rentals, Inc., 24-7540 (D.N.J.).

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Counsel for American Furniture Rentals, Inc.: Brian K. Kidd, Esq., Washington, D.C.

Counsel for Relator Verity Investigations, LLC: Steven Shepard, Esq., New York, NY