ORLANDO — A 32-year-old Orlando resident has been charged by federal indictment with mortgage fraud and a scheme to steal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, facing up to 30 years in federal prison per count if convicted, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced.
Yan Daniel Inclan Hernandez faces one count of making a false statement to a financial institution and three counts of wire fraud. The indictment alleges Hernandez claimed $12,350 in monthly income on a mortgage loan application submitted in September 2021 — a false statement that induced a financial institution to approve and fund a $411,350 mortgage loan he used to purchase a property in Orlando. Federal prosecutors are seeking a forfeiture order of $157,500, representing the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.
The indictment also alleges Hernandez ran a separate wire fraud scheme between May 2020 and August 2021 to obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans for himself and an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for his company from the U.S. Small Business Administration. According to prosecutors, Hernandez caused PPP and EIDL applications to be submitted that overstated gross monthly payroll, gross monthly income, gross annual revenues and the number of employees. Those material misstatements fraudulently induced the SBA and PPP lenders to fund the loans.
The case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, the FBI and the SBA Office of Inspector General. Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor is prosecuting the case in the Middle District of Florida.
The charges come as the Department of Justice ramps up pandemic fraud enforcement nationally. On April 7, the department announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, whose core mission is to investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The division supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse within federal benefit programs.
Hernandez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. A trial date has not yet been announced in federal court in Tampa.