51-year-old Steven Andiloro of Mooresville, is facing federal charges in connection with an alleged investment fraud scheme and for fraudulently obtaining more than $2.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds. The announcement was made Thursday (July 20) by Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to allegations in the indictment, from 2018 to 2021, Andiloro operated an investment fraud scheme in which he induced victims to invest their money in businesses that were both real and fictitious. To induce victim investors to invest their money, Andiloro allegedly made false and fraudulent representations about where and how the victims’ money would be invested.

For example, the indictment alleges that Andiloro promised some of his victim investors their money would be invested in a non-existent marijuana dispensary business in exchange for a ten percent ownership stake. Instead of investing his victims’ money as promised, Andiloro used the funds to pay for personal expenses and to make Ponzi-style payments to other investors.

The indictment alleges that from April 2020 to March 2021, Andiloro fraudulently obtained funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by submitting fraudulent applications for COVID-19 relief loans intended for businesses that suffered economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The indictment alleges that the fraudulent applications Andiloro submitted to obtain the PPP funds contained false financial information about his businesses, including fake employment data and inflated revenues, costs, and payroll expenses. As a result of the scheme, the indictment alleges that Andiloro received more than $2.6 million in fraudulently obtained relief funds, which he used to fund his personal lifestyle and to make payments in furtherance of the investment fraud scheme.

The indictment charges Andiloro with securities fraud and wire fraud, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine for each offense, and money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.