CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — The owner of Bayville Adventure Park on Long Island pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving millions of dollars in small business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program during COVID-19, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Donald Finley, 61, of Locust Valley, pleaded guilty to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud in connection with the scheme, prosecutors said. He faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as restitution totaling over $3.2 million and a fine of up to $1.25 million, according to prosecutors.
Bayville Adventure Park operates as an entertainment park with rides like bumper boats and other amusements such as mini-golf in the summer. In the off-season, it hosts holiday-themed events like haunted houses in the fall and winter.
Finley previously owned the now-defunct Jekyll & Hyde theme restaurant in Manhattan.
Patch has reached out to his attorney, Christopher Ferguson of Manhattan, for comment.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said that Finley has admitted “diverting millions of dollars in COVID-19 disaster relief funds to finance his personal expenses, including the purchase of a home in Nantucket, Massachusetts.”
“This office will continue investigating and prosecuting those, like the defendant, who shamelessly steal from government programs that were intended for struggling small businesses and families during the pandemic,” he said.
Thomas Fattorusso, special agent-in-charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Intelligence, said the agency “has seen the abuses of disaster relief programs when all too often criminals find an opportunity for exploitation.”
“In this case, Finley obtained millions in COVID-19 relief funds, only to use the ill-gotten cash for his own personal gain,” he said. “While he may be the owner of an amusement park meant to bring joy, with his guilty plea and pending sentencing, Finley may be facing a future that he could find much less enjoyable.”
Daniel Brubaker, inspector-in-charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service’s New York Division said Finley “took advantage of a program intended to be used to support small businesses as part of the CARES Act of 2020, when he devised a scheme to submit fraudulent information to the government to obtain millions in funds during the pandemic to fund his lavish lifestyle.”
“Not only did he purchase a home on Nantucket, but he utilized those funds to pay for personal expenses,” he said. “Postal Inspectors and their law enforcement partners are always on a mission to ensure those who truly need assistance get it, and those who scheme and break the law to receive funds which they are not entitled to, are brought to justice.”
Between March 2020 and March 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Finley fraudulently applied for, and received, at least 29 PPP and EIDLP loans totaling around $3.2 million, on behalf of corporate entities that he controlled, prosecutors said.
Instead of using the funds for disaster relief, Finley diverted them for personal use, including the purchase of a home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in February 2021, according to prosecutors.
Congress created the PPP and EIDLP as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Enacted on March 29, 2020, the CARES Act provided emergency financial assistance in connection with economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors said.
One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the allocation of funds for the issuance of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses through the PPP, according to prosecutors.
The PPP allowed qualifying small businesses to receive unsecured loans on favorable terms, which they were required to use for specified expenses, including payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities, prosecutors said.
The PPP provided for forgiveness of the loan if the recipient businesses spent the proceeds on these specified expenses within a limited time-period and used a certain percentage for payroll costs, according to prosecutors.
Another source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the EIDLP, which provided low-interest financing to small businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions affected by declared disasters, prosecutors said.
In the program, EIDLP recipients were eligible to receive advances of up to $10,000 for small businesses within three days of applying for an EIDL, prosecutors said, adding, that the amount of an EIDL Advance was determined based on the number of employees working for the applicant, but the EIDL Advance did not have to be repaid.
— to patch.com
