An uncle of actress Lindsay Lohan was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in federal prison and ordered to repay a $646,000 government agency loan after he falsely claimed his company lost business as a result of the World Trade Center's destruction.
In addition to fraud, Paul Sullivan, 50, of Old Bethpage was also accused of obstruction of justice.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert at the federal court in Central Islip sentenced Sullivan to less than the minimum 27 months suggested by federal sentencing guidelines, saying she was trying to arrive at a balance.
Seybert said she had weighed "the highly egregious nature" of Sullivan's taking advantage of 9/11 tragedy against the pain the arrest already had caused Sullivan, his wife, three children and mother, and the fact that many cases of Small Business Administration frauds are settled civilly.
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