Vinicius Santana, 34, of Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States is of Brazilian descent. He is a former resident of Revere, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA.

Santana owned Complete Home Care, LLC (CHC), a painting company in Massachusetts, USA. The company was incorporated on February 1, 2021.

Enacted on March 29, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of U.S. residents suffering the economic effects caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. One source of relief provided by the federal law was the authorization of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain approved expenses through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

On behalf of CHC, Santana submitted four different PPP loan applications in April 2020. He allegedly listed five employees and an average monthly payroll of between $10,000 and $18,000 in the first three applications, which were all denied.

In the fourth application for CHC, Santana allegedly falsely claimed to have 154 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1 million. On May 11, 2020, a bank issued his company a $2,500,000 loan based on the alleged false representations in the fourth application.

Using the loan proceeds, Santana allegedly spent $7,861.12 on May 14, 2020 to pay off a car load he had previously obtained and another car loan issued by Chase Auto Finance with $9,681 a few days later. He allegedly paid $29,471 for a 2019 Toyota Highlander on July 2, 2020 and $90,000 to Audi of Burlington weeks later.

On May 17, 2021, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was established to marshal the resources of the U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent fraud related to COVID-19.

On June 6, 2022, Santana was arrested at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. On June 7, 2022, he appeared in federal court in Miami.

Santana was charged with one count of wire fraud. He will appear in Massachusetts at a later date.