HUDSON – Matthew Dispensa, 58, of Hudson, was sentenced on Dec. 2 to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of bank fraud and one count of attempted wire fraud to obtain $342,650 in CARES Act funding.

Dispensa’s illegal activities began in the spring of 2020, according to U.S. Attorney Jane Young’s office.

In May of that year, Dispensa applied for a $90,400 loan from Primary Bank under the federal Paycheck Protection Program for a company known as Gateway Hills LLC. In doing so, he submitted fake annual and quarterly tax documents as well as a “Management Report” detailing the company’s financial activities through the end of the year, as if they had already happened.

In his “Payroll Summary,” Dispensa stated that he received $8,700 per month from Gateway Hills. Yet, the associated income did not appear on his tax returns.

In December 2020, Dispensa applied for a $150,000 loan from the Small Business Administration. On the application, he claimed that Gateway Hills generated a gross revenue of $485,000 for the year. However, there were no bank statements showing any activity from Gateway Hills during that 12-month period.

“The defendant lied to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic relief funds designed to mitigate the worst economic and public health crisis in decades,” said Young. “This case underscores how this office will utilize both criminal and civil tools to hold accountable those who defraud pandemic relief programs.”

In another application, Dispensa obtained a PPP loan for $146,650 for Gateway Hills Club, which he claimed was separate from Gateway Hills, LLC. In that instance, he maintained that payroll costs for 2020 exceeded $542,000. However, Dispensa’s tax filings later showed the payroll cost to be approximately $118,000.

Dispensa also used pandemic relief funds to make unauthorized purchases which included more than $83,000 in Tesla stock, 10,000 shares in a real estate investment trust and gambling on DraftKings.

Following his prison sentence, Dispensa will be on supervised release for two years.

In addition to paying $342,650 in court-ordered restitution, he will also pay a $150,000 civil penalty.