Rocklander Sentenced To 1 Year & 1 Day In Prison For $1.6M COVID Fraud

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Spring Valley resident Elizier Scher was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for his scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration of more than $1.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

In addition to the prison term, Scher, 34, was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,648,900.

Over about a four-hour period July 13, 2020, prosecutors alleged, the 33-year-old submitted 12 applications to the federal Economic Injury Disaster Loan program in a principal amount of $150,000 to the SBA over the Internet on behalf of 12 different corporations that he owned and controlled. He requested on each application that the borrower be considered for an advance of up to $10,000 that did not need to be repaid.

Prosecutors said he lied in each application with respect to each corporation's gross revenue and cost of goods sold for the 12-month period prior to Jan. 31, 2020.

Eleven of the 12 applicants received a net total of $1,648,900 in loan proceeds from the SBA.

Prosecutors said Scher used the proceeds to buy real estate and to pay credit card expenses instead of using it for working capital for the borrowers, as he had agreed to do in the loan agreements he executed.

He was arrested in 2022.

"Elizier Scher schemed to steal taxpayer funds intended for small businesses in need of assistance during the pandemic," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in an announcement. "His intent to illegally profit from a national emergency that affected countless businesses and uprooted lives resulted in a sentencing reflecting the severity of his actions. Exploiting a crisis for personal gain will face the full force of the law."