Man accused of fraudulently acquiring $8.5 million in coronavirus relief aid arrested

A 40-year-old California man was arrested in Las Vegas on Thursday on a fraud charge for allegedly obtaining roughly $8.5 million in coronavirus relief money, and used some of the money to gamble in the city.

Andrew Marnell allegedly submitted multiple falsified loan applications for the federal aid that has been made available during the pandemic. 

The alleged fraudulent loan applications resulted in millions of dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, a fund created by the CARES Act passed by Congress in late March to help small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic, being paid to Marnell.

Marnell has been charged with one count of bank fraud, according to the Department of Justice.

“The complaint further alleges that Marnell then transferred the fraudulently-obtained loan proceeds to his brokerage account to make risky stock-market bets and similarly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulently-obtained loan proceeds at a Las Vegas casino,” DOJ said in a statement.