Former Keene man ordered to pay $60K in CARES Act fraud

Ryan Spencer, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
·2 min read

Apr. 21—A former Keene man who pleaded guilty in federal court last week to making false statements to obtain CARES Act funds was ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution and fines as part of his sentence, according to court documents.

Andrew McBreairty, 45, who now lives in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord in December to a felony charge of false statements. McBreairty admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors to lying on financial documents about his payroll and income to obtain three loans totaling more than $55,000.

The court also sentenced McBreairty to two years of probation, six months of which will be served on home confinement, according to the sentencing document. While on probation, he must provide his probation officer with access to financial information and may not incur new credit charges or open new lines of credit without the officer's approval, the document states.

In addition to a $5,000 fine, the court ordered McBreairty to pay $33,316 in restitution to KeyBank and $22,000 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the government agency that administered CARES Act loans, the sentencing document states.

When applying in spring 2020 for the first round of loans offered through the federal Paycheck Protection Program — which was intended to help small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic — McBreairty falsely claimed his monthly payroll was $9,092, court documents state.

During the second round of PPP loans in February 2021, he used a false IRS form to claim his sole proprietorship made $62,063 in profits in tax year 2020, according to the documents. In May 2020, McBreairty also falsely claimed on an application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan that his income during the past year was $100,000, the documents state.

In total, McBreairty obtained and misused $55,315 in CARES Act proceeds he was not entitled to receive, according to a news release U.S. Attorney John J. Farley issued at the time of McBreairty's guilty plea.

Neither the news release nor court documents provide details on the business McBreairty purportedly ran. But the ProPublica website indicates his loan information listed his business under "new car dealers."

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @rspencerKS