William, Thomas Felcon plead guilty in pandemic loan program fraud, DA Bragg says

A Manhasset Hills man and his nephew have pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration pandemic relief programs, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg said. 

William Felcon, 66, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree grand larceny and will be sentenced on July 25 to 50 hours of community service, Bragg’s office said. He will forfeit $175,000 seized from corporate accounts he controlled, as well as $36,000 out of pocket to cover money owed to the SBA. 

Felcon’s nephew, 42-year-old Thomas A. Felcon of Howard Beach, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to second-degree attempted grand larceny and will be sentenced to six months in jail in August, Bragg’s office said. 

“While New York businesses were in dire need of financial support during the pandemic, William and Thomas Felcon defrauded the system and obtained loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration by lying on their applications,” Bragg said. “We will not allow public programs to be raided and used as a personal piggy bank for greedy individuals and companies.”

William Felcon's attorney, Murray Richman, said, "He was drawn into it by others. He has made full restitution. He's not well, he's a sickly man. That was taken into account as well."

Thomas Felcon’s attorney, Anthony Strazza, did not immediately return calls for comment. 

Companies controlled by Thomas Felcon — The Nebula Group and GPT Property Consultants Inc. — each pleaded guilty to one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree. The companies will forfeit approximately $650,000 seized from the companies’ account. The money will be paid as restitution to the SBA to cover $409,000 stolen from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and additional funds fraudulently obtained from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL).

A L One Inc., and A L One Consulting Inc., — both New Hyde Park companies controlled by William Felcon — also each pleaded guilty to first-degree scheme to defraud. 

The defendants acknowledged in their pleas that they engaged in a scheme with others to steal PPP money from the SBA and SBA-authorized lending institutions. 

Both defendants made false statements in numerous loan applications regarding the companies’ number of employees, payroll amounts and intended use of the loan proceeds to the PPP and EIDL programs, Bragg’s office said. The loan programs were designed to assist businesses with retaining employees during the pandemic emergency, but none of the companies had employees or payroll expenses at all relevant times of the scheme.

Bragg said Thomas Felcon and William Felcon created fraudulent Internal Revenue Service quarterly federal tax reporting forms that falsely inflated the number of employees for each of the companies, as well as the amount of wages and payroll taxes.