Newberry business pays $100,000 to resolve allegations over PPP loan

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, announced that Mac C. Johnson and a company he owned and operated, Mac Johnson & Sons Dumpster, Crane & Demolition, LLC, have agreed to pay $100,000 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly providing false information in support of a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan application. 

In 2019, Johnson was sentenced to one year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud, wire fraud, structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements, and harboring undocumented aliens.

Following his conviction, the U.S. Attorney alleges, Johnson knowingly submitted false claims to the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) in support of a PPP loan made to Defendant Mac Johnson & Sons Dumpster, Crane & Demolition, LLC. Specifically, in the April 2020 loan application, Johnson failed to report that the owner of the company had been convicted of a felony within the prior five years. Knowing that his company was ineligible to participate in the PPP, the release stated, Johnson used false information to secure a loan for $48,514. 

“This settlement, which is more than twice the fraudulently obtained amount, reflects the diligence and determination we will use to pursue businesses who defraud the government,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michelle Spaven. “Here, a defendant who was punished for fraud and harboring aliens continued to take funds unlawfully.  Our Civil Division ensured that this fraudster will not benefit from what rightfully belongs to the American people.” 

Mac Johnson’s attorneys, Avera & Smith, underscored that the matter is a civil dispute and said that there was no allegation that the funds were improperly or fraudulently used; they also specified that the company has agreed to reimburse the federal government (as opposed to the U.S. Attorney’s statement that Johnson and the company agreed to pay back the funds). The loan in question was a reimbursement for amounts paid to employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Avera & Smith, “The allegations in the civil matter questioned whether the Company’s application was timely. Because a requisite transfer of the business’s ownership had not been executed before the application was filed, the government contended that the loan was improperly secured and thus invalid… After extensive negotiations during which the Government sought a substantially larger reimbursement, the Company on the advice of counsel agreed to a settlement of $100,000.00 paid over a period of time. The first settlement payment has already been tendered, and all of the Mac Johnson Companies continue to deliver services to their customers.”

Mac Johnson transferred ownership of the company to Dana Johnson on April 13, 2020.

This matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Ann Couch and Marie Moyle from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, with assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The criminal matter is detailed at the following link:  https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/alachua-county-man-sentenced-prison-harboring-undocumented-aliens-and-evading-workers