Kukaj
Pled Guilty to PPP Loan Fraud and Threat
Now in Prison as Co-Defendant to Plead
Guilty
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY COURTROOM
EXCLUSIVE, July 21 - In
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York on November 1, 2022
defendant Besim Kukaj appeared
before Judge Andrew L. Carter
to plead guilty to two
charges. Inner City Press was
there:
Kukaj is charged with a scheme to
obtain $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection
Program Loans and making interstate threats to
a victim to whom he owed money.
Plea deal is for 70 to 87 months.
In allocution he says he used his restaurants
Q: Once released on bail in Oct 2020, did you
continue to file false PPP loan applications?
Defendant: Yes.
Q: Which banks? A: PNC, and Empire Bank in
Orange County.
[Judge Carter noted that he owns stock in JPM
Chase where his wife used to work as a lawyer,
and BONY Mellon, where she now works.]
Count 2: Defendant had another say, Close yr
f-ing mouth or I will. AUSA: Victim was in
Manhattan
Plea accepted.
Afterward Judge
Carter asked if either side wanted to redact
the name of the man who made the threat.
Neither did - he was charged with the conduct.
The docket shows he is Abduraman Iseni, and
he was applying for compassionate release.
On February 9,
2024 co-defendant Melsa
Skrapalliu pled guilty, with
sentencing set for June 13 at
2 pm.
On April 19,
2024, the US Attorney's Office
wrote in that co-defendant
Rafael Jacobs is set to plead
guilty on May 2.
The criminal case
is US v. Kukaj, et al.,
20-cr-660 (Carter)
But that
wasn't it. Jump cut to July
21, 2023 before SDNY Judge
Denise Cote, when Kukaj's wife
Spranee Penthamrongrat was
alone in court, asking for
more time to hire a lawyer to
defend. She said she just had
child number seven; the
plaintiff lawyer said her
husband is in jail. She was
given until August 18 to hire
counsel and answer the
complaint. Otherwise, default
hearing on September 7 at 11
am.
This civil was is
Campos, et al., v. V&B
Investment Guttenberg LLC,
23-cv-1184 (Cote)
***
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