Ronald Hoplamazian, a Pennsylvania businessman at the helm of consulting firm Eclipse Capital Partners, has agreed to a hefty $3.2 million payout in a settlement concerning allegations of misusing Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds — a case that throws a stark light on the fraudulent activities that have surfaced in the aftermath of pandemic relief efforts. This payout is meant to resolve his alleged violations of the False Claims Act, as detailed in the announcement made by U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hoplamazian, whose company snagged an EIDL to the tune of $1.9 million under the guise of using it as capital to mitigate COVID-19 economic damages, reportedly channeled most of that cash into a personal investment account, a stark deviation from the intended purpose of the loan which landed him in this legal bind, the claimed utilization of these funds promised for purposes of business recovery lied in stark opposition to his actions.
Amid the administrative uproar, U.S. Attorney Romero hammered home the severity of misusing government programs: “Hoplamazian instead allegedly used the EIDL proceeds for an entirely different purpose — to make personal investments — a purpose he knew to be inconsistent with the rules of the EIDL program,” indicating a willful breach of the trust invested by the SBA in the businesses they aimed to support, as cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
