An Erie business is facing a $1.7 million tax lien from the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes.
This is in addition to federal charges that the owner of the business fraudulently obtained more than $630,000 in COVID-19 relief loans.
The businessman, Aaron B. Collins, is accused of bank fraud and money laundering in the federal criminal case, which is separate from the newly filed civil tax case.
More than a million dollars in unpaid taxes is the latest problem for an Erie businessman already indicted on federal charges that he fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief loans.
The IRS has filed a $1.7 million tax lien against a real estate company associated with the businessman, Aaron B. Collins, who was arraigned in the fraud case in February in U.S. District Court in Erie.
Collins, 50, is charged with bank fraud and money laundering related to a total of $633,718 that the real estate company and two other businesses received through the federal Paycheck Protection Program in 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic.
The tax case is a civil case that is separate from the criminal fraud case.
IRS says unpaid payroll taxes led to lien
The IRS filed the tax lien on March 20 in Erie County Common Pleas Court against Garner Blake Real Estate LLC, whose address is the same as Collins’ residential address, according to state business records. The lien is for $1,692,796.
The amount is for unpaid taxes in 2019 and 2020. The unpaid taxes are payroll taxes, which employers must withhold from employees’ paychecks for federal taxes and taxes for Social Security and Medicare. The IRS requires employers to report the taxes quarterly using IRS Form 941.
The lien lists the liened property for Garner Blake Real Estate as a building in the 300 block of East 11th Street in Erie, though the state business records show Garner Blake’s registered address as Collins’ house in the 2600 block of Auburn Street.
From 2009-2017, the owner of the liened building in the 300 block of East 11th Street was Awareness Ministries Inc., another of Collins’ businesses. Awareness Ministries still owns other properties in the 300 block of East 11th Street.
Indictment in fraud case names 3 business tied to Collins
The indictment in the PPP loan case alleges that Awareness Ministries and Garner Blake Real Estate are two companies that received loans through fraudulent applications that Collins submitted. The other business, also associate with Collins, is Push Forward.
As a result of the applications, according to the indictment,
Awareness Ministries received $191,738,
Garner Blake Real Estate received two loans of $149,340 each, and
Push Forward received $143,300.
Collins said on the loan applications that the money was for business-related expenses, but he knew
$1.7 million tax lien filed against Erie business tied to COVID fraud
