Local blimp company exec who stole $5 million in COVID-19 relief funds gets 5-year prison sentence.
A 42-year-old blimp company executive from Williston has been sentenced to over five years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection to COVID-19 pandemic relief.
On Tuesday, January 31, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Jason R. Coody announced that Patrick Parker Walsh has been sentenced to 66 months in federal prison.
According to court documents, between April 7, 2020, and January 21, 2021, Walsh submitted a total of 16 fraudulent applications to multiple federally insured financial institutions and other qualified lenders for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in the names of multiple businesses, including his blimp companies which were headquartered in Levy County.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed that Walsh had used several of the same employees on PPP loan applications for different companies.
Through the fraudulent PPP loan applications, Walsh sought $11.9 million in PPP loan funds, of which he received nearly $5 million.
Additionally, between March 2020 and July 2020, Walsh submitted a total of 18 fraudulent applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs), in his own name and in the name of his spouse. Walsh’s false EIDL applications were approved and over $2.8 million was disbursed to him.
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