Date: June 26, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Burlington, VT — The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that on June 25, Leon Delima of Burlington and South Burlington, Vermont, was sentenced by United States District Judge Christina Reiss to a term of 46 months in prison, to be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. Delima previously pleaded guilty in two separate federal cases to wire fraud and false statements in connection with his 2021 false applications for COVID relief funds and his 2022 possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. He is also required to pay over $20,000.00 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). According to court records, between April and July 2021, Delima devised a scheme to obtain COVID relief funds to which he was not entitled by submitting false applications seeking Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) from the SBA. Delima successfully obtained a $17,833 PPP loan which he spent over the course of approximately two weeks on consumer goods, life expenses, and other non-business items. Having exhausted the initial loan, he then sought an additional $350,000.00 EIDL, which was denied. Approximately a year later, on July 2, 2022, Delima, who had previously been convicted of a felony offense and was precluded from possessing firearms under federal law, discharged a .40 caliber pistol as he walked along North Avenue in Burlington, Vermont. Delima knew the firearm had been stolen. He was also in possession of over 35 grams of cocaine at the time he fired the gun. He threw the gun aside before law enforcement could apprehend him. The gun was recovered approximately two weeks later and linked back to the shooting incident using ATF technology. United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest praised the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Burlington Police Department for their collaboration and excellent work investigating Leon Delima’s many crimes. “Utilizing technology is a key part of ATF’s strategy to identify and prosecute individuals who commit violent crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge James M. Ferguson of the ATF Boston Field Division. “The combination of NIBIN and good police work has resulted in the arrest and conviction of a convicted felon who illegally possessed a firearm and crack cocaine.” The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia A. P. Cowles. Delima was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Sara M. Puls. This case was made possible by investigative leads generated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). NIBIN is the only national network that allows for the capture and comparison of ballistic evidence to aid in solving and preventing violent crimes involving firearms. NIBIN is a proven investigative and intelligence tool that can link firearms from multiple crime scenes, allowing law enforcement to quickly disrupt shooting cycles. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
