The owner of several Italian restaurants in Utah has been sentenced to prison after defrauding the government out of more than $1.88 million in COVID relief loans, according to a news release from the United States Department of Justice.
Giuseppe Mirenda, 29, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison after pleading guilty in February to two counts of conversion of government property, the release stated. Mirenda was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and must pay a fine of $250,000.
Between March and June of 2020, Mirenda fraudulently applied for and signed agreements for six Economic Injury Disaster Loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the release stated. In 2021, he applied for another $520,000 in COVID relief loans, but those loans were denied.
Court documents show Mirenda signed a loan authorization and agreement saying the proceeds of the loan would be used “solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury” caused by the pandemic. But within a year of receiving a total of $1,889,400 in relief money, he used over $1.1 million of the funds to purchase houses in West Jordan and Las Vegas, used at least another $81,781 to buy luxury cars, and bought $39,000 in cryptocurrency, the release stated.
According to court documents, Mirenda was born in Italy and came to the United States in 2012, at age 17. He ended up starting five Italian restaurants with two relatives, the documents show, including three Sicilia Mia locations in Farmington, Cottonwood Heights and Holladay, along with Antica Sicilia in Millcreek and Bella Sicilia in Salt Lake City, and a restaurant management company called Sicilia Restaurant Management, which was located in the basement of Antica Sicilia and would sell food to the restaurants.
When Mirenda applied for the loans, he said he was the sole owner of the businesses applying for the loans, instead of disclosing that the relatives he was working with were facing immigration issues and would be disqualified from receiving relief funds, the documents state.
After the United States Attorney’s Office opened a grand jury investigation into Mirenda in 2021, he hired an attorney and paid back about $680,000 of the relief loans and didn’t oppose the sale of his two homes to repay the rest of the money, the court documents state. The United States seized $1,251,469.29 from the sales of the homes, and Mirenda forfeited those proceeds as part of a plea agreement, the documents state.
Adam Crayk, Mirenda’s attorney, emphasized Friday that a total of $2.2 million was eventually paid back to the government, more than what the loans were originally for. “In the history of white collar crimes, very rarely does money get recouped like this, ever,” he said.
Crayk also said that Mirenda’s three current restaurants — Sicilia Mia in Salt Lake City, Antica Sicilia in Millcreek, and Basta Pasteria in Murray — would remain open, run by Mirenda’s wife and staff.
“This isn’t against the restaurants,” Crayk said. “The restaurants aren’t accused here of anything.”
