North Berwick man pleads guilty to $215G Covid fraud scheme

PORTLAND, Maine - A North Berwick man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday to filing fraudulent applications for loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.

According to court records, between April 2020 and September 2021, Frederick Avery, 49, submitted two applications for PPP loans that claimed he was the 100 percent owner of Superior Cruise and Travel LLC. Avery sold the agency to a limited liability company in Pennsylvania in November 2019. He claimed on the applications that the loans, which totaled more than $215,000, were for payroll, lease/mortgage interest, utilities, and other items. Avery submitted falsified bank statements from a non-existent account to support one of the applications.

Avery faces up to 30 years imprisonment followed by up to five years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $1 million. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI investigated the case.