Long Island man sentenced to 4 years in COVID-19 loan fraud case

A Long Island business owner was sentenced to four years in federal prison Wednesday for stealing more than $1.7 million in pandemic relief funds, which he spent on luxury watches, cryptocurrency and private school tuition, officials said.

Niall Alli, a resident of Inwood in Nassau County, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud after submitting fraudulent applications to the Paycheck Protection Program, a pandemic-era federal loan program intended to help small businesses stay afloat.

Between April 2020 and November 2021, prosecutors said, Alli applied for and received four PPP loans on behalf of two companies he controlled, Allicorp and Oxypaper, using falsified financial data and fabricated payroll to secure the loans. He later filed false forgiveness applications using bogus financial statements, according to court filings, authorities said.

“Alli saw the COVID-19 programs and the deadly pandemic as an avenue for stealing money from the government and taxpayers, to spend nearly $500,000 to purchase cryptocurrency, $140,000 on two wristwatches, a $36,000 stay at a luxury Manhattan hotel, and an $800 bottle of champagne and $600 bottle of Scotch at fine restaurants,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Alli also used the loan proceeds to pay off personal debts and cover his child’s private school tuition, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced in federal court in Central Islip and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration. The court also imposed about $135,000 in forfeiture, including funds seized from bank accounts and a corporate Coinbase wallet.

Alli’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Today's sentence should also put scammers like the defendant on notice that there is no free pass for those who take advantage of important relief programs,” Nocella said.