CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The restaurant owner accused of using Covid relief funds for his own personal expenses, pleaded guilty Monday in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Court.
Marcelo Fadul Neves pleaded guilty to:
- One count of aggravated theft
- One count of theft from a person in a protected class
- One count of grand theft
- Four counts of passing bad checks
As part of the agreement, Neves must pay a total of $969,315.67, which will be shared by the nine victims.
He will be sentenced on April 29.
Neves illegally spent $800,000 in Federal Revitalization Funds and wrote bad checks to multiple people, including employees of his restaurants, for a total of over $140,000 from 2020-2024…