California Restaurant Owner Sentenced for COVID-19 and Tax Fraud Schemes

A San Diego restaurant owner was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for schemes to defraud COVID-19 relief programs and filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Leronce Suel was the majority owner of Rockstar Dough LLC and Chicken Feed LLC, both of which operated 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 COVID-19 relief applications. Suel’s businesses fraudulently received $1,773,245 in COVID-related Paycheck Protection Program loans and Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants, two programs created to provide financial assistance to American suffering economic harm as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suel and his co-conspirator misappropriated COVID-19 relief program funds by making substantial cash withdrawals from their business bank accounts, purchasing a home in Arkansas, and keeping more than $2.4 million in cash in Suel’s bedroom.

Suel did not file timely tax returns for 2018 and 2019, despite being legally required to do so. On his 2020 through 2023 tax returns, Suel also did not report the income from his businesses including millions of dollars in cash he withdrew. Finally, in 2023, Suel filed false original and amended tax returns for multiple years, including personal tax returns for 2016 and 2017 that included false depreciable assets and business losses.

In September 2024, Suel was convicted by a federal jury of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing false tax returns, and failing to file tax returns. Following the convictions, Suel agreed to forfeit $1,466,918 in U.S. currency.

In addition to this prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro for the Southern District of California ordered Suel to pay approximately $1,773,245 in restitution to the Small Business Administration and forfeit $1,466,918. Restitution to IRS will be heard on June 6.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Julia Rugg of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Beeler for the Southern District of California prosecuted the case.