Nashua health club owner indicted on COVID relief fraud

New Hampshire Union Leader

May 2—A 57-year-old Hudson man who owns and operates a health club in Nashua was indicted in federal court Monday for attempting to fraudulently obtain over $1 million in CARES Act funding — the latest in a pipeline of cases in New Hampshire related to the illegal use of COVID rescue plan money.

Matthew Dispensa, owner/operator of the Gateway Hills Health Club in Nashua, was indicted on four counts of bank fraud, two counts of attempted wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Jane Young.

Although Dispensa had only one gym, he applied for CARES Act relief for two different corporate entities. Between 2020 and 2022, he sought four Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and two Economic Injury and Disaster Loans (EIDL). He provided false documents including phony tax statements to banks and the Small Business Administration, inflating his company's size and payroll. Because the loan was determined by payroll and number of employees, Dispensa secured larger loans than he was legally entitled to.

In total, he applied for $413,850 in PPP loans and $$650,000 in EIDL funds from the Small Business Administration. According to the charging documents, he wired $100,000 of loan proceeds to a personal bank account, then used it to purchase stock, including in Tesla. He transferred $105,600 — a PPP loan for Gateway Hills — to a personal bank, then shifted $25,000 to a personal brokerage account to buy 10,000 shares of a real estate investment trust, according to court records.

This is the third COVID fraud-related case in the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire. The indictment is not a conviction, but a formal accusation that Dispensa has committed a federal crime, based on factual evidence presented to a grand jury.

The bank fraud charges provide for a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine of $1 million. Attempted wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. The charge of money laundering allows a prison sentence of up to 10 years, and a fine of twice the amount illegally gained.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service led the investigation with help from Hudson Police.

Two years ago the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud and assist in investigating and prosecuting cases which are now working through federal courts nationwide.

Anyone with information or allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 is encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or filing a complaint online at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-dsiaster-complaint-form.

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