A Delaware County man has been convicted on all charges involving defrauding federal COVID-19 assistance programs of over 8 million dollars. Convicted was 39-year-old Francis Battista of Aston, Pennsylvania, who was taken into custody following the verdict last Friday afternoon. According to United States Attorney, Jacqueline Romero, he was convicted of 12 counts of wire fraud and other related counts, after applying for 19 loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. He reportedly sought over ten million dollars in funds that were meant to provide emergency financial assistance to small businesses and their workers. Nine of his loans were funded, for a total of 8.4 million dollars. Battista will be sentenced at a later date, and faces up to 316 years in prison.
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