12-02-2022 8:12am

Los Angeles Man Found Guilty of Stealing More Than $150,000

Anita Johnson-Brown Editor

LOS ANGELES – Sean Schoepflin, 43, a.k.a. "Sean Fitzgerald," A resident of downtown Los Angeles was found guilty on December 2, 2022, by a jury of federal criminal charges for fraudulently receiving more than $150,000, and attempted to get an additional $1.85 million, in COVID-relief loans for several businesses he asserted to own and manage.

Schoepflin was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.

During the defendant's three-day trial, and according to evidence presented from April 2020 to October 2021, Schoepflin made

multiple

false reports to the United States Small Business Administration to secure over $150,000 and tried to secure an additional $1.85 million, in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) for his company.

When applying for the EIDL loans, Schoepflin falsely said that the business commodity he formed had several workers and more than half a million dollars in earnings and that he would use the EIDLs for working capital. The defendant also falsely wrote on a loan application that he was never convicted of a felony.

Schoepflin's purported company, Capital Adventures Inc., had no workers and little to no earnings. Schoepflin used the EIDLs primarily

for private expenses, and had earlier been convicted of numerous felonies.

For example, Schoepflin falsely stated in the loan application that Capital Adventures had revenues of $560,000 in one year before the onset of the pandemic. When an SBA employee sent an email to Schoepflin requesting Capital Adventures' business tax return to establish evidence of the business's existence as a company entity, Schoepflin sent a tax form with no signature stating, Capital Adventures had gross sales or receipts of $625,112 in 2019.

No required tax returns were filed for Capital Adventures for the IRS form for 2019, until July 2021, after it requested and was denied an increase for its EIDL. Also, between February 2018 and April 2020, Capital Adventures' bank accounts totaled deposits of about $35,000.

Schoepflin is scheduled to appear in court under the order of United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin on July 27, for a sentencing hearing, at that time Schoepflin will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count and up to 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count.

*The defendant's wife, Erika Leon, 45, a.k.a. "Erika Fitzgerald," also a resident of downtown Los Angeles, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of wire fraud in this case. She is scheduled to appear in court on February 21, 2023.

Schoepflin, furthermore, is scheduled to go to trial on May 16, 2023, on an indictment charging him with one count of being a felon in possession of guns and projectiles. Schoepflin allegedly had nine firearms and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition in spite of felony convictions dating back to the late 1990s in Florida state court, as well as witness tampering, cocaine possession, and burglary.

The FBI and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated this matter. The Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General provided substantial assistance with the investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Solomon Kim of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Ali Moghaddas of the Major Frauds Section are prosecuting this case.

Anyone with information about alleged attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Written by Anita Johnson-Brown