Randolph Dominguez owned and operated Dominguez SP Interpreters, a very small interpreter services business. An interpreter’s role is built on a foundation of trust, where they convert spoken or signed language in real-time, ensuring that the speaker’s message is an accurate and unbiased translation. But Dominguez was anything but accurate and unbiased. On May 28, 2025, Dominguez was sentenced to over two years in federal prison for four separate schemes fraudulently using not only his business, but his deceased father’s identity too.
In June 2020, Dominguez submitted a loan application to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), claiming Dominguez SP Interpreters suffered substantial economic injury due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the interpretation of business revenue was very inaccurate and biased towards Dominguez, falsely claiming his gross business revenue was $600,000 the previous year, when it was only $16,989. Based on his falsified supporting documents, Dominguez fraudulently obtained $90,000 in EIDL funds that he spent on non-business expenses at car dealerships, smoke shops, liquor stores, gun ranges and an adult bookstore. Just a year later, in June 2021, Dominguez fraudulently obtained a $3,500 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. A small amount but just enough for Dominguez to go on an all-inclusive vacation in Cancun, Mexico.
COVID-19 loan fraud wasn’t the first scheme for Dominguez. Dominguez’s father was receiving Social Security benefits at the time of his death in March 2001. His death was never reported to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Instead, Dominguez changed his deceased father’s address to his own and SSA continued to pay monthly benefits in his father’s name. In furtherance of his schemes, Dominguez claimed his deceased father as a dependent on his 2019 federal and state income tax returns to fraudulently obtain tax credits.
Shout out to the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Lawrence man sent to federal prison for benefits, COVID-19 relief fraud” published by The Eagle Tribune on May 28, 2025.
A Lawrence man who stole Social Security benefits for more than two decades and also misused COVID-relief funds was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Friday.
Following his prison sentence, Randolph Dominguez, 58, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Dominguez was also ordered to pay $274,119 in restitution, according to a statement released by U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. In January, Dominguez pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft of government money.
