Georgia Man Indicted for PPP Fraud Involving Charlotte Amalie Restaurant

ST. THOMAS — A federal grand jury has indicted Georgia resident Raynaldo Oquendo for his alleged role in submitting false payroll information for a downtown, St. Thomas restaurant in order to receive an inflated PPP loan.

The Paycheck Protection Program was part of pandemic-era relief offered to businesses impacted by Covid-19. In 2020, Congress authorized over a trillion dollars in funding for forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.

In order to apply for a PPP loan, businesses were required to state average monthly payroll costs, and disclose the number of employees on staff, among other information, which was then used to calculate the amount of loan funds each business would receive.

On July 20 2020, the owner of Shama’s Specialties, who is not named in the indictment, reportedly filed a PPP loan application for the company. According to her application, the company employed 16 people, and average monthly payroll expenses were over $153,000.