UPDATE: Richard Rosser’s sentencing has been pushed back to July 21.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – A Hampton man pleaded guilty Thursday to laundering almost $740 million in disaster-related loan benefits that were made available during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Court documents show that 49-year-old Richard Rosser obtained disaster-related loan benefits between May 2020 and May 2021 from Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

Rosser owned and operated a construction business in Hampton named Richard’s General Services and submitted false disaster-related loan applications for the business.

On the applications, Rosser grossly inflated the number of employees he had working for his company and its average monthly payroll. He also fabricated tax returns to substantiate the false representation made on the applications.

He submitted three false applications and obtained around $1,164,999 by fraud, with at least $739 thousand being laundered in transactions in excess of $10,000.

Rosser pleaded guilty to engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived proceeds. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, 2023.