SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The majority owner of several San Diego-area restaurants who was convicted of taking more than $1.7 million in pandemic relief funds and using the money to buy a home in Arkansas rather than for his businesses was sentenced Friday to three years and six months in prison.
Leronce Suel, 47, who was the majority owner of companies that operated restaurants including North Park's Streetcar Merchants, was indicted along with his business partner Ravae Smith.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, they fraudulently received $1,773,245 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants by falsely claiming the money would go towards their businesses.
Federal agents found more than $2.4 million in cash hidden in Suel's bedroom, according to prosecutors, who said Suel underreported more than $1.7 million in gross receipts in order to qualify for the pandemic-related loans and grant funds.
A prosecution trial brief states Suel also didn't file federal tax returns from 2014 to 2022, "despite making significant income from these restaurants." In 2023, he filed original and amended tax returns for those years "that included false depreciable assets and business losses," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Smith was also charged in the case but died in late 2023, according to court documents, while Suel went to trial last year and was convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy and tax-related charges.
Along with prison, he was ordered to pay $1,773,245 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration and forfeit $1,466, 918 of the cash that was seized from his home. Further restitution to the IRS could be determined at a later date.
