Beverly Hills man pleads guilty to fraud involving pandemic relief loans

BEVERLY HILLS — Jabari Long, a 45-year-old Beverly Hills resident, pleaded guilty on Jan. 20 to wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

The pandemic fraud scheme involved submitting fraudulent loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans for nonexistent businesses, according to Homeland Security Investigations’ Detroit Division.

This was announced by United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., who was joined by acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey with Homeland Security Investigations’ Detroit Division. HSI investigated the case, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sara D. Woodward.

Through the fraud scheme, Long received $2,187,000 in federal loans for Priceless Preservations Construction — which he claimed had 50 employees and an average monthly payroll of $875,000. However, according to a press release sent out by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, “In truth, Priceless Preservations Construction had few, if any, employees and little to no payroll expenses.”

Long’s attorney, Steven Fishman, said in an email, “I have handled a number of cases like this and I’m not sure why this has become a newspaper story.  Mr. Long is going to do the best he can to pay back what he owes between now and his sentencing date.  He is a good person who unfortunately made a bad decision that resulted in his guilty plea. We have an excellent judge who I am sure will consider everything about Mr. Long and will impose a fair sentence.”

Long will be sentenced July 28 by Judge Brandy McMillion, facing a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment.