A 40-year-old California man was arrested in Las Vegas on Thursday on a fraud charge for allegedly obtaining approximately $ 8.5 million in coronavirus relief money and used part of the money to gamble in the city.
Andrew Marnell allegedly submitted multiple counterfeit loan applications for the federal aid that was made available during the pandemic.
The alleged fraudulent loan applications resulted in millions of dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, a fund created by the CARES Act passed by Congress in late March to help small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic.
Marnell has been charged with one count of bank fraud according to the Department of Justice.
“The complaint further alleges that Marnell then transferred the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to his brokerage account to make risky bets on the stock market and similarly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on fraudulently obtained loan proceeds on a Las Vegas casino, “the DOJ said in a statement.
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