Man who spent pandemic funds on alpaca farm sentenced to prison

A Massachusetts man who used more than $650,000 of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds to purchase an alpaca farm in Vermont was sentenced to two years in prison, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Dana McIntyre pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in April. He was forced to repay nearly $680,000.

Prosecutors allege he took the PPP loans — intended to be COVID relief funds to pay the salaries of employees at small businesses — and used the funds on personal expenses. 

“He stole from the American taxpayers and the many small businesses which truly needed those loans to survive,” U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said. “Whether someone used stolen money to buy luxury goods or fancy cars or exotic farm animals, we intend to find them and hold them accountable.”

McIntyre owned a pizza restaurant north of Salem, Mass., during the pandemic and applied for multiple fraudulent PPP loans using his children’s names for businesses that did not exist, prosecutors allege. They also accused him of fraudulently applying for and receiving pandemic-related unemployment benefits totaling more than $17,000.

When applying for PPP loans, McIntyre inflated information about the company’s payroll and falsified a tax rector to qualify for a larger loan. When he received the loan, he sold the business and purchased an alpaca farm in Vermont, as well as multiple vehicles and airtime for his cryptocurrency radio show, prosecutors said.

“Dana McIntyre capitalized on a national catastrophe and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a limited pool of money set aside to help struggling businesses, to buy a farm, stock it with alpacas, and make a fresh start for himself in Vermont,” said Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office. “Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his selfish criminal conduct.