A Slice of Fraud | Massachusetts | Covid-19 Fraud

Pizza remains one of the most popular food choices worldwide, loved for its versatility and ability to bring people together. Owning a pizza place can be demanding and challenging – and involves juggling multiple tasks and working long hours. Yet it can also be rewarding due to the satisfaction of creating delicious food and building a successful business. But for pizza store owner Stavros “Steve” Papantoniadis, owner of Stash’s Pizza, a chain of pizzerias in greater Boston, crafting the perfect slice was not exactly his objective.

Between November 2021 and January 2022, Papantoniadis applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration. These loans were designed to provide relief for existing small businesses that suffered substantial economic injury during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Papantoniadis didn’t own the pizza place at the time of his fraudulent application. He had sold his Randolph store in April 2021, seven months prior to applying for the loan. In his supporting submitted documentation, Papantoniadis falsely stated that he still owned and operated the pizzeria in Randolph and even claimed that he then had 18 employees at the location. As a result of his fraudulent application, the SBA approved the loan and Papantoniadis received half a million dollars in fraudulent proceeds.

On April 2, 2025, Papantoniadis was sentenced to two additional years in prison for COVID-19 relief fraud, while he was serving his nine-year prison sentence for forced labor. Turns out, not only was Papantoniadis a fraudster, but he was mean too. In June 2024, Papantoniadis was found guilty of forcing his employees to work for him through violent physical abuse, threats of abuse, and repeated threats to report victims to immigration authorities for deportation if they did not continue working for him.  

Excellent job by Homeland Security Investigations in this case.

Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Owner of Boston Area Pizzerias Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Defrauding U.S. Small Business Administration” published by Boston Live on April 2, 2025.

The owner of Stash’s Pizza, who is currently serving eight and a half years in prison for mistreatreatment of his employees, was sentenced to two more years Wednesday for using false information to obtain a COVID-19 relief loan on behalf of a pizza shop he no longer owned, federal prosecutors said.

Stavros “Steve” Papantoniadis, owner and operator of a chain of pizzerias in the greater Boston area, sold his Randolph store in April 2021, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office. The secretary of state subsequently canceled the limited liability company through which Papantoniadis, a 50-year-old Westwood resident, owned the Randolph pizzeria.