Aurora Man Indicted for Defrauding Surveying Company and $2.3 Million from COVID-19 Relief Programs

DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Mathew Barr, age 50, of Aurora, Colorado, was indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering in connection with schemes to defraud a Colorado surveying company and programs intended to provide emergency relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the indictment, from June 2019 until around November 2022, Barr allegedly defrauded SurvWest, LLC, the surveying company in which he was majority shareholder of, to obtain over $843,452 for his own benefit, including to purchase an Aston Martin convertible, a Land Rover Range Rover Sport, and a Mercedes Benz G63.

The indictment further alleges that Barr participated in a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration and others to obtain emergency COVID-19 relief funds totaling over $2.3 million during the pandemic.

On January 7, 2025, the defendant made his initial appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathryn A. Starnella.

The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation's Denver Field Office. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor Glogiewicz and Craig Fansler.

On July 11, 2023, the Attorney General selected the District of Colorado's U.S. Attorney's Office to head one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information regarding the Strike Force may be found at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-results-nationwide-covid-19-fraud-enforcement-action.

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

Case Number: 1:24-cr-00372-DDD