Mooresville Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Charges For Multimillion Dollar Investment Scheme And COVID 19 Fraud

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Steven Andiloro, 53, of Mooresville, N.C., pleaded guilty today to securities fraud and wire fraud for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme and fraudulently obtaining more than $2.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Jason Byrnes, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Charlotte Field Office, Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina, and Hannibal "Mike" Ware, Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG), join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to the plea agreement and documents filed in the case, from 2018 to 2021, Andiloro operated an investment fraud scheme and induced victims to invest money in businesses that were both real and fictitious, by making false representations about where and how the money would be invested. For example, some of Andiloro's victims were told their money would be invested into his car service business. Other victims believed their money would be invested into a non-existent marijuana dispensary business. Contrary to representations made to victims, Andiloro did not invest the money as promised. Instead, Andiloro used the funds to pay for personal expenses and to make Ponzi-style payments to other investors.

In addition to the investment scheme, Andiloro also engaged in COVID-19 fraud. Court records show that, from April 2020 to March 2021, Andiloro obtained funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by submitting fraudulent applications for disaster relief loans intended for businesses that suffered economic hardship due to the pandemic. To obtain the PPP funds, Andiloro submitted applications that contained false financial information about his businesses, including fake employment data and inflated revenues, costs, and payroll expenses. Andiloro received more than $2.6 million in disaster relief funds, which he used to fund his personal lifestyle and to make payments in furtherance of the investment fraud scheme.

Andiloro was released on bond. The securities fraud and the wire fraud offense each carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. A sentencing date has not been set.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, and the SBA-OIG for the investigation which led to the charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Graham Billings and Katherine Armstrong with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte are 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 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and 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 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 www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.