SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A San Diego restaurant owner was convicted of tax and COVID-relief fraud schemes, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The indictment accused James Frank Austin Jr., who established the Austin Smith Center for Community Development, of bank fraud, money laundering and conspiring to commit wire fraud. Rosalend Way was indicted alongside Austin on two counts of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

A San Diego restaurant owner has been convicted of taking pandemic funds and using the money to buy a home, not on his businesses.

A 55-year-old man was sentenced to over a year in federal prisionDefendant fraudulently obtained more than $250,000 in COVID-19 relief benefitsBaltimore, Maryl

Leronce Suel, who was the majority owner of companies that operated restaurants including North Park’s Streetcar Merchants, was indicted last year

A former San Diego restaurant owner hid $2.4 million in cash inside shoeboxes in his Arkansas home, discovered after he was indicted for wire fraud amid COVID relief fund misappropriation allegations

In a high-profile case that highlights the fight against financial fraud, Leronce Suel, a California restaurant owner, has been found guilty of an array of serious financial crimes, including wire fraud,