U.S. Department
of Justice
Pharmaceutical Company Settles Allegations it Received Improper Paycheck Protection Program Loan
NEWARK, N.J. – A pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Puerto Rico entered into a settlement agreement with the United States resolving allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by taking a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to which the company was not entitled, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced today.
According to the allegations in the complaint and the contentions of the United States in the settlement agreement:
On March 4, 2021, Caribe Holdings Cayman Co. Ltd. (Caribe) applied for a PPP loan totaling $1.2 million. The company certified that it was eligible to receive a PPP loan and specifically that it was not an “an entity created in or organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China” and that no such entity owned or held 20 percent or more of the economic interest in Caribe. That certification was not true at the time Caribe submitted the application and Caribe would not have qualified for the PPP loan if it answered the question accurately. After receiving the PPP loan, Caribe sought and received forgiveness of the total amount of the loan.
“The Paycheck Protection Program was just one of several efforts by the United States to help companies and people through the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, too many entities saw these programs as opportunities to line their pockets with money to which they weren’t entitled. Our office is always on the lookout to find anyone who has tried to take advantage of programs like this, and ensure that they are held accountable for taking taxpayer money that they weren’t entitled to.”
Congress created the PPP in March 2020, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide emergency financial support to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses struggling to pay employees and other business expenses.
Caribe fully cooperated in the investigation and resolution of this matter. In accordance with the terms of the settlement agreement, Caribe has paid the United States $1.99 million. 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. In this matter, the relator is receiving $199,103 as his share in the 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. GNGH2, Inc. v. PuraCap International LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 23-2068 (D.N.J.).