A San Diego judge sentenced a man who lied to banks on a series of business loan applications to 57 months in custody Monday.
Soloman Gordon Raymond, also known as Paul Anthony Raymond, got nearly $500,000 from bank loans.
A jury convicted Raymond of lying on several loan applications he submitted to Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and the Bank of Escondido. Each application contained numerous false statements and omissions regarding his financial and business affairs, criminal history, and other aspects of his creditworthiness.
He frequently used a second social security number that hid his bad credit history and multiple prior bankruptcy filings.
Evidence at trial showed he claimed that his income ranged from $308,841 to $543,933 when in reality it was only a fraction of that. To support his false claims he submitted fraudulent tax returns that appeared to have been filed with the IRS.
At the trial the government proved that the file stamps on the tax returns were completely fabricated, and that the returns had never been submitted to the IRS.
Three days after collecting the last payment from his loans Raymond filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid paying the loans back. This left the banks and the U.S. Small Business Administration with hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
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“Mr. Raymond’s string of lies and deceptions not only defrauded these banks – they also victimized the taxpayers whose funds are used to support business loans to deserving small businesses,” Attorney Laura Duffy said. “We are pleased that they jury saw through the additional lies he told at trial, and that he was appropriately punished for his misconduct.”
Judge Benitez described Raymond as “one of the worst conmen I have ever seen.” The judge increased his sentence for lies he told during his trial last May.
He also ordered Raymond to repay the victims $729,192 in restitution.
Following sentencing, Raymond was immediately taken into custody.
