Political donor, businessman gets time served, home detention for COVID relief fund fraud

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — An Amherst political donor and businessman was sentenced to time served and home detention for funneling more than $3 million worth of federal pandemic relief funds into his own wallet, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday.

Hormoz Mansouri, 71, lied on loan applications and inflated payroll expenses to get around $3.5 million in federal money for eight businesses. It was found that six of the eight entities had no actual employees or payroll expenses at all.

After he was charged in 2022, he was awarded a contract by the City of Buffalo to work on two projects to redesign parks on the city's East Side and North Buffalo. He resigned from the projects in March 2024.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said that he moved the fraudulent funds "between various bank accounts; commingling the proceeds with legitimate business revenues; and funding certain accounts, including a campaign account," that was designed as a "Mansouri for County Comptroller" account.

He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and bank fraud.

On Friday, he was given one year of home detention and five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $3,197,562 and forfeit an additional $1,888,603.