US prosecutors charged Luka Klasinc, 48, with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft related to his alleged use of falsified documents. The fraud count carries a maximum 30-year prison term.
Prosecutors said Klasinc owns BOB77 LLC, which has staged ice-themed amusement park events in locations such as Warsaw, Poland; Dusseldorf, Germany; and Ljubljana, Slovenia.
According to court papers, BOB77 received $1.6 million of US small Business Administration (SBA) “economic injury disaster loans” from July to September 2020, when there were also many wire transfers to international recipients from its accounts.
After Klasinc’s bank froze the accounts on suspicion of fraud, Klasinc allegedly provided a falsified letter on SBA letterhead to “verify” the funds’ legitimacy.
Klasinc flew in from Istanbul on 31 May and visited the bank three times to access the funds but was denied, and the bank alerted law enforcement, prosecutors said.
