BOSTON — The owner of Stash’s Pizza, who is serving time in federal prison for forced labor, was sentenced this week to additional prison time for fraudulently obtaining a $499,900 pandemic-relief loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration for a business he no longer owned, the U.S. Attorney said.
Stavros Papantoniadis, a/k/a “Steve Papantoniadis,” 50, of Westwood, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley to two years in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement Wednesday.
Papantoniadis was also ordered to pay $534,462.01 in restitution. In February, Papantoniadis pleaded guilty to a Superseding Information charging one count of false statements.
In October, Papantoniadis was sentenced to 102 months in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a $35,000 fine, after a federal jury convicted him in June 2024 of three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor.
Six months of the sentence imposed Wednesday will run consecutive the 102-month sentence the court imposed in June 2024.
Based on evidence introduced at trial, Papantoniadis “forced or attempted to force five men and one woman 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,” prosecutors said.
In April 2021, Papantoniadis sold one of his pizzerias located in Randolph, and the Secretary of State subsequently cancelled the limited liability company through which Papantoniadis owned the Randolph pizzeria.
Between November 2021 and January 2022, Papantoniadis applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the SBA, Foley said. These loans were designed to provide relief for existing small businesses that suffered substantial economic injury during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his submissions to the SBA, Papantoniadis falsely stated that he still owned and operated the pizzeria in Randolph, even claiming that he then had 18 employees at the location. But in reality, prosecutors said Papantoniadis had sold the business several months before he applied for the loan.
Based on Papantoniadis’ false representations, the SBA approved the loan and sent Papantoniadis $499,900, Foley said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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