Hopkinton Couple Sentenced for Fraud Schemes

A Hopkinton couple were sentenced in federal court for separate schemes to defraud their workers’ compensation insurers and charged in connection with separate schemes to defraud the Small Business Administration (SBA) and their mortgage lender.    

Sentencing

Ronaldo Solano was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, with the first six months on home detention.  Adriana Solano, was sentenced on June 23, 2025 to time served (one day), to be followed by 27 months of supervised release, with the first three months on home detention.  Ronaldo and Adriana Solano were also ordered to pay $1,625,872 jointly in restitution.  Ronaldo Solano was ordered to pay an additional $627,675 in restitution.  In January 2025, Ronaldo Solano pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud.  Adriana Solano pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.  In March 2024, Ronaldo and Adriana Solano were indicted by a federal grand jury.

Investigation

According to the indictment, between in or about 2015 and in or about 2018, Ronaldo and Adriana, who operate a roofing and construction company based in Framingham under the names H&R Roofing & Construction Inc. and H&R Roofing & Siding Corporation, avoided more than $627,000 in workers’ compensation insurance premiums by underreporting their payroll and paying workers through a shell company.  

Separately, between in or about 2021 and between in or about 2022, Ronaldo and Adriana submitted a loan application on behalf of H&R Roofing & Siding Corp. to the SBA under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, which provided for pandemic relief under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.  In the application, Ronaldo and Adriana requested $2 million in relief funds for working capital and other eligible business expenses.  After receiving the relief funds, Ronaldo and Adriana transferred $1 million of the funds to a personal bank account they shared, from which they used more than $825,000 for a down payment towards a home in Hopkinton.  Ronaldo and Adriana borrowed another $770,500 from a mortgage lender to fund the purchase of the Hopkinton home, but did not disclose that they were using EIDL funds for the down payment to their lender.  

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud provides for a sentence of no more than twenty years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.  The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud provides for a sentence of no more than thirty years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.  The charges of mail fraud and wire fraud provide for a sentence of no more than twenty years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the EIDL Program, through which the SBA offers loans that can only be used on certain permissible business expenses, which can include payment of fixed business debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other business-related expenses that could have been paid had the COVID-19 disaster not occurred.   

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across the government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.