Wilm. Tax Preparer Gets Almost 7 Years In Prison For $9M COVID Relief Fraud

A nationwide fraud scheme has landed Wilmington’s Jady Solano in prison for more than six years. (Photo by designer491/Getty Images iStockphoto)

A Wilmington tax preparer was sentenced Monday to more than six years in federal prison for orchestrating a nationwide fraud scheme that siphoned off more than $9 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Jady Solano, 43, was sentenced to 80 months behind bars after prosecutors said he led a wide-ranging effort to defraud the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was created to help small businesses retain employees during the pandemic. None of the loans tied to the scheme were repaid, authorities said.

According to court documents, Solano used his position as a tax preparer to file 62 fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of shell companies that had no actual business operations or employees.

The applications falsely claimed the businesses had payrolls exceeding $1 million in some cases. Solano also submitted fake tax documents and bank statements to support the applications.

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The scheme resulted in more than $9.1 million in pandemic relief funds being disbursed. Solano personally pocketed nearly $1.4 million, which he has been ordered to repay as part of a federal restitution order.

“The American taxpayers work hard for their money,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Julianne Murray. “And we will work hard to ensure that, when taxpayer money is misused—through waste, fraud, or abuse—the wrongdoers are brought to justice. Jady Solano led a nationwide scheme to steal more than $9 million from the federal government.”

And, she said, the funds he stole were meant for an especially important purpose: helping American workers keep their jobs during a deadly pandemic.

“Solano’s egregious misconduct warranted the substantial prison sentence the Court handed down today,” she said. “We hope that sentence sends a message to other potential white-collar criminals: in this District, financial crimes simply will not pay.”

Seven others connected to the fraud operation have also been charged, authorities said.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Wallace. It was investigated by agents from the IRS Criminal Investigation division and the FBI’s Wilmington office.