A federal jury in San Diego has convicted Leronce Suel, a California restaurant owner, of multiple charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and tax crimes, for his role in schemes to defraud COVID-19 relief programs and file false tax returns.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Suel, the majority owner of Rockstar Dough LLC and Chicken Feed LLC, operated several restaurants in the San Diego area, including Streetcar Merchants in the North Park neighborhood.
He conspired with others to underreport over $1.7 million in gross receipts on Rockstar Dough’s 2020 corporate tax return and on COVID-19 relief applications. Suel’s businesses fraudulently received $1,773,245 million in COVID-19 relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, both created to assist businesses suffering from the economic impact of the pandemic…