Business owner sentenced for federal Paycheck Protection Program fraud

By Adam Bartow

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    BANGOR, Maine (WMTW) — A Skowhegan man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 20 months in prison for a bank fraud scheme related to his applications for federal Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Nathan Reardon, 44, pleaded guilty back in July. He will have three years of supervised release when he gets out of jail.

Reardon was indicted by a federal grand jury in Bangor on May 13, 2021. He had faced up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

In imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker called Reardon’s conduct “a fundamental breach of the public trust during a time of public crisis.”

According to court records, Reardon owned and controlled Global Disruptive Technologies Inc., a Bangor-based business. In April 2020, prosecutors say Reardon obtained a $59,145 PPP loan for Global Disruptive Technologies Inc. using false employee wage information and false supporting payroll documentation. Reardon then improperly spent the PPP funds on items and expenses he knew were not covered by the program. After receiving the first loan, Reardon submitted additional fraudulent PPP applications to the same bank in April and May 2020. Two of the applications were for companies that had no active business operations, employees or payroll.

Under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, businesses were required to use Paycheck Protection Program loan proceeds for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities. The Paycheck Protection Program allowed the interest and principal to be forgiven if businesses spent the proceeds on these expenses within a set period and used at least a certain percentage of the funds for payroll expenses.

WMTW has also reported on a history of wage violations involving Reardon. Two businesses that he ran were cited for 698 wage violations over the last two years by the Maine Department of Labor.

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