UnitedHealth discovered the documents which implicated one of their Optum employees, Luke E. Steiner and Mann in the fraud. UnitedHealth immediately cut ties with Mann and reported the fraud to the FBI.
Unable to repay the loans with legitimate business revenues, Mann diverted millions of dollars from his payroll companies to cover his debt. And daily moved millions of dollars around in the bank accounts he controlled.
Mann’s enterprise completely collapsed in September 2019, when Pioneer Bank froze his account. He then closed his companies, with no warning to clients, leaving hundreds of small businesses nationwide unable to make payroll and thousands of people without their paychecks.
In February, Luke E. Steiner of Minneapolis, Minnesota, plead guilty to the conspiracy for his part in defrauding two finance companies out of millions of dollars.
“[Mann] caused more than $100 million in losses and wove a web of deception so complex that it eventually ensnared hundreds of small businesses and several thousand workers across the country,” said United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith. “Today’s plea is the start of holding him accountable for the terrible harm he inflicted on these victims, as well as the banks and other companies that trusted him with their money and believed his sophisticated lies.”
