• CoreLife Eatery ordered to pay for allegedly falsely claiming eligibility for pandemic relief funds.
• Restaurant chain reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office to pay $7.8 million.

CoreLife Eatery, a restaurant chain with a location in Vestal, has been ordered to pay $7.8 million after misrepresenting eligibility for pandemic relief funding.

According to the Northern District U.S. Attorney's Office, the chain, which operates restaurants throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, has agreed to pay $7,809,373 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying eligibility for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant.

CoreLife, according to the May 5 release, knew or should have known it operated too many locations to qualify for relief funding which was meant to serve as a support grant for small businesses facing economic struggles following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan Act was enacted by Congress in March 2021. This act allocated $28.6 billion to the RRF which allowed the United States Small Business Administration to award grants to qualifying restaurants and other eligible entities based on pandemic-related revenue losses.

The settlement agreement states CoreLife admitted it and its affiliates owned and operated 29 restaurant locations as of March 13, 2020, making it ineligible for the funding. Despite this, an...

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