ALBANY – A Saugerties man pled guilty on Thursday in Albany federal court to conspiring to commit bank fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud, and admitted to fraudulently obtaining close to $4.9 million in government-back loans meant for businesses struggling with the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jean Lavanture, also known as JR, and Rudy Lavanture, 48, is the third person to plead guilty in this case.
Lavanture admitted to conspiring with Sean Andre to obtain $4.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans between June and August 2020, by submitting fraudulent loan applications in the names of four companies Lavanture controlled. Each loan application grossly misrepresented each company’s employees and payroll.
Each application also included false corporate tax documents that Andre created as part of the scheme. Lavanture admitted that none of his companies actually had a payroll or employees.
Lavanture also admitted that, on his own, he fraudulently obtained $561,200 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Lavanture agreed to pay restitution of $4,87 million and to forfeit proceeds of the fraud, including a motel property he purchased in Rockaway Beacon, Missouri, $476,253 in cash, a 2007 Bentley Continental, a 2013 BMW X5, and the balances of 19 bank accounts at nine banks, into which he deposited fraud proceeds.
Lavanture, a citizen of Haiti, has been in custody since September 17, 2020, when FBI agents arrested him.
He faces up to 30 years in prison for bank fraud conspiracy and up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud when he is sentenced next January.
Andre, 31, of Brooklyn, pled guilty on May 26 of this year to conspiring to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced next January.
Jamur Pharmes, 43, of Hampton, Georgia, pled guilty on July 1 to conspiring to commit wire fraud admitting that Lavanture and he conspired to submit fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications in the name of two companies connected to Pharmes. He obtained about $159,900 as a result of the school and paid a $10,000 fee to Lavanture. Pharmes is scheduled to be sentenced in December of this year.
