The two former operators of the Queen Mary must pay a $250 fine a day, beginning in January, until they can cover $2.4 million in missing federal COVID-19 relief funds, a Delaware bankruptcy court judge ruled recently.
Judge Christopher Sontchi, in his ruling earlier this month, called Taylor Woods and Howard Wu “fraudsters,” accusing them of absconding with $2.4 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds.
Lawyers for the two did not return requests for comment.
The ruling came after the U.S. bankruptcy court judge held Woods and Wu, of Urban Commons, in contempt of court in mid November for failing to provide an accurate representation of their finances, court documents showed.
They judges Dec. 14 ruling, first reported by the Long Beach Post, requires the pair to to pay $250 a day until they can come up with $2.4 million — or until they are able to provide an accurate representation of their finances and how they spent the PPP loan funds, court records said.
“One would have thought the issuance of the Contempt Order and the Sanction Order would serve to make it clear to Mr. Woods and Mr. Wu that continued fraudulent behavior would not be tolerated by the Court and it was time to make a complete and forthright accounting,” court documents read. “Clearly, Defendants have not gotten the message.”
Urban Commons initially sued the pair, saying they took $2,437,500 in government relief funds meant for the company, court records showed.
The judge said their…