Date: December 15, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov DENVER — The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Chandler Simbeck was sentenced to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was also ordered to pay $151,000 in restitution. According to the plea agreement, between March 2020 and October 2020, Simbeck conspired with Russell Foreman to submit loan applications to the Small Business Administration for himself and various businesses, knowing that the applications contained materially false and fraudulent information. In June 2020, Simbeck and Foreman caused the creation of a limited liability company, Fusion Group, and thereafter applied to the SBA for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan ("EIDL"). The application contained materially false information concerning the establishment date of the company, its gross revenues, and costs of goods sold. In fact, Fusion Group was never a business engaged in any enterprise of any kind and did not have any revenue or employees. On August 27, 2020, the SBA approved the loan application and $149,900 was deposited into a bank account controlled by Simbeck. Over the next several days, funds were withdrawn from the account, including an $8,000 check that was cashed; a $30,000 check and a $60,000 check that were deposited to other bank accounts controlled by Simbeck; a $50,000 check payable to a relative of Simbeck; and a $55,000 wire transfer to co-conspirator Foreman's account. Simbeck also received a $1,000 EIDL grant in connection with a false and misleading application dated March 30, 2020, in his own name. In addition to the EIDLs, Simbeck made three attempts to obtain Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans for two other business by submitting applications containing false information. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized the Small Business Administration ("SBA") to issue loans to small businesses and non-profit entities experiencing revenue loss due to the pandemic. The EIDL program provides loan assistance up to $150,000 to pay permissible expenses such as fixed debts, payroll, and accounts payable for certain COVID-19 impacted businesses in operation prior to February 1, 2020. Additionally, the CARES Act created the PPP, which authorizes forgivable loans to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll, and certain other expenses consistent with PPP rules. "Stealing from the taxpayers through COVID fraud is disgraceful as well as criminal," said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan. "We will prosecute those criminals who stole from hardworking business owners and employees." "Chandler Simbeck stole from individuals whose lives were upended by the pandemic, with no regard for the business owners and families the program was designed to support" said Todd Martin, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office. "COVID fraud remains a top priority for CI and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney's Office to hold those accountable who abused the system for their personal benefit." United States District Court Judge Raymond Moore sentenced Simbeck on December 14, 2023. Simbeck's co-conspirator Russell Foreman was previously sentenced to 66 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and restitution. IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Robert Brown handled the prosecution. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
