The owner of several Italian restaurants in Utah has been sentenced to prison after defrauding the government out of more than $1.88 million in COVID relief loans, according to a news release from the United States Department of Justice. Giuseppe Mirenda, 29, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison after pleading guilty in February to two counts of conversion of government property, the release stated.
Mirenda was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and must pay a fine of $250,000. Between March and June of 2020, Mirenda fraudulently applied for and signed agreements for six Economic Injury Disaster Loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the release stated. In 2021, he applied for another $520,000 in COVID relief loans, but those loans were denied.
Court documents show Mirenda signed a loan authorization and agreement saying the proceeds of the loan would be used “solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury” caused by the pandemic. But within a year of receiving a total of $1,889,400 in relief money, he used over $1.1 million of the funds to purchase houses in West Jordan and Las Vegas, used at least another $81,781 to buy luxury cars, and bought $39,000 in cryptocurrency, the release stated.
According to court documents, Mirenda was born in Italy and came to the United States in 2012, at age 17. He ended up starting five Italian restaurants with two relatives, the do.