A Long Island man who blew almost $2 million in COVID relief money on Patek watches, luxury hotels, and crypto coins was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday.
Niall Alli, 52, of Inwood, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud for swindling the Small Business Administration out of more than $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans during the height of the pandemic, federal prosecutors said.
He will now have to pay back every cent — along with an extra approximately $135,000 in asset forfeiture from corporate bank accounts and Ethereum from a corporate Coinbase wallet.
“Alli saw the COVID-19 programs and the deadly pandemic as an avenue for stealing money from the government and taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. “[Alli] now knows the price of such conduct is the loss of his freedom and full restitution to the Small Business Administration.”
From April 2020 to November 2021, Alli used two companies he controlled — Allicorp, Inc. and Oxypaper, Inc. — to file bogus PPP applications stuffed with fake payroll records and phony financial data, officials said.
Once the cash hit his accounts, he doubled down with fraudulent forgiveness requests backed by fabricated statements.
Prosecutors said the cash fueled Alli’s lavish lifestyle, including nearly $500,000 in cryptocurrency, two Patek Philippe wristwatches worth about $140,000 each, and $36,000 for just one single stay at a luxury Manhattan hotel on top of other luxurious hotel stays for over $10,000 each.
They added that Alli also used the PPP funds to pay for private school tuition for his child, and nonchalantly splurged on $800 champagne and $600 Scotch at high-end restaurants.
“Alli’s compulsion for fraud exploited funds meant to keep struggling businesses alive during the pandemic,” said USPIS Inspector in Charge Daniel Brubaker. “Today’s sentencing proves we will relentlessly pursue anyone who uses the U.S. Mail to defraud the government and steal taxpayer money.”
