A North Carolina man convicted of scamming $1.7 million in Covid relief funds was sentenced to 20 months in prison Tuesday after he tried to scam US officials with company names inspired by the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. “.
Tristan Bishop Pan, 40, filed multiple fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications targeting small businesses struggling in the early days of the pandemic with federally insured banks, according to documents filed by the Justice Department. in the name of fraud. companies called White Walker, Khaleesi and The Night’s Watch, among others.
Fans of the popular fantasy program may recognize in the names of the defunct businesses not-so-subtle references to the program, which ended its eight-year run in May 2019.
Federal agents scrutinizing the filings also appeared to be fans of the show, exposing Pan’s ploy in September after flagging companies and noticing inconsistencies in statements about their employees and payroll costs.
Tristan Bishop Pan (not pictured) filed numerous fraudulent PPP loan applications reserved for small businesses with federally insured banks on behalf of the fraudulent companies White Walker, Khaleesi and The Night’s Watch, according to documents filed by the Justice Department. Above is White Walker from the hit HBO show.
A fake website created by Pan for one of his scam businesses called the Pan School of Real Estate.
Prosecutors allege that Ban filed at least 14 false PPP loan applications to obtain $6 million in taxpayer funds earmarked for businesses hard hit by Covid-19.
As part of the scheme, a scam fan filed at least 14 fake PPP loan applications to obtain $6 million in public money earmarked for businesses hit hard by the then rampant virus and resulting lockdown, according to the feds, according to the feds. business.
Before he was caught in the fall of 2020, Ban successfully stole nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds for fictitious companies, including one of three Game of Thrones-inspired companies.
All of the PPP loan applications were backed up by forged documents, including falsified tax returns, Pan’s indictment says.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in August 2021 after nearly a year of litigation.
One of the scams founded by Pan was named Khaleesi after the Game of Thrones character known in the series as the “Mother of Dragons”.
Prosecutors named a number of fraudulent transactions in their indictment against Pan (above), including a number that bore names from the hit HBO show Game of Thrones.
Ban formed several companies in 2019 and listed their goals as real estate or real estate acquisition firms, as listed in documents from the North Carolina Secretary of State.
Ban claimed that the companies employed dozens of people and were paid tens of thousands of dollars a month to guarantee large loans funded by taxpayer dollars.
However, in reality, no one worked at the “enterprises”.
Similarly, he applied for loans from several other companies he created, some with strange names, including several inspired by Game of Thrones.
He was the founder of several real companies that did real business, although Pan was accused by the feds of also greatly increasing the number of employees in those companies.
The website of one of Pan’s businesses called the Pan School of Real Estate, which the feds say boasts the same address as another fraudulent business, advertises itself online as “North Carolina’s answer to affordable, fun, and timely education in area of real estate.
Another business founded by Pan was named after the Night’s Watch, a group of people who guard the fictional land of Westeros from the mystical zombie-like creatures from Game of Thrones.
The Pan Insurance Agency online directory, located at the same address, is stamped by the Better Business Bureau warning that all letters sent to that address to verify that the business is actually in operation are returned by the post office.
U.S. Attorney Michael Francis Easley Jr., who has created a new federal task force to prosecute people like Peng who swindle taxpayers out of COVID-19 relief funds, says Peng was just one of thousands of criminals who shared ways to cheat the system during online pandemic.
“We want to ensure that those who commit crimes are not only prosecuted, but that crimes don’t pay off,” Isley said. “We can have civil remedies and forfeiture of funds that were obtained on the basis of false representations and lies to the government.”
In December, police arrested a New Jersey man who allegedly used the state’s facial recognition system to claim nearly a million dollars in fake pandemic-driven unemployment benefits from a state more than 2,000 miles away by posting pictures of himself wearing red wigs.
The feds said that through the scam, suspects could “swind California out of $900,000 in fake unemployment benefits.”
Pan’s lawyer did not immediately return a call asking for comment.