DENVER — A man who formerly lived in Morrison has been indicted for receiving more than $900,000 in alleged fraudulent loans.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Colorado said Richard Rejan Nieto, 37, received $913,551.88 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Nieto owned two businesses -- Denver Pro Painting and Contracting, and DenPro --when he applied for PPP loans in April and May 2020.
Nieto falsely stated on his applications that he did not own any other businesses, the indictment alleges. He also inflated his payroll costs, made false statement and certifications and submitted fake tax returns, the indictment says.
He then applied for loan forgiveness for the full amount of the PPP loans, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Nieto received forgiveness of $176,956 through false representations and by submitting fake payroll checks, the indictment says.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Nieto then allegedly laundered money through large money transfers between bank and investment accounts, which included a $40,000 transfer to a cryptocurrency account in January 2021.
Nieto has been indicted on:
- three counts of wire fraud
- five counts of money laundering
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the government had previously executed seizures of the fraudulently received money from Nieto's investment account and from two crypto trading accounts.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Investigations & Crime
9NEWS+
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and 9NEWS+ Daily, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates, and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.
