Donald Finley, owner of Bayville Adventure Park, pleads guilty in $3.2 million COVID-19 loan fraud

The Locust Valley owner of Bayville Adventure Park pleaded guilty on Thursday to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud, admitting in Central Islip federal court that he received $3.2 million in COVID-19 disaster funds by lying on online loan applications.

Donald Finley, who also owned the now-defunct Jekyll & Hyde theme restaurant in Manhattan, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlene R. Lindsay that he inflated the payroll of his business entities and made other false statements to obtain additional funds.

Finley used the money for personal use, including buying a home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in February 2021, prosecutors said.

“I am deeply remorseful for my conduct,” Finley, 61, told Lindsay.

Finley surrendered to authorities on Thursday morning in Central Islip federal court and appeared before Lindsay shortly after noon.

He operated several restaurants and theme parks on Long Island and in New York City between March 2020 and March 2021, when the fraud occurred, according to court records. 

According to court filings, Finley fraudulently applied for and received 29 loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program worth approximately $3.2 million.

“Finley has admitted diverting millions of dollars in COVID-19 disaster relief funds to finance his personal expenses, including the purchase of a home in Nantucket,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “This office will continue investigating and prosecuting those, like the defendant, who shamelessly steal from government programs that were intended for struggling small businesses and families during the pandemic.”

Finley faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced. He may also be ordered to pay more than $3.2 million in restitution and a fine of up to $1.25 million. Prosecutors said the government will seek forfeiture of a property Finley acquired as a result of the fraud. 

Finley is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack on Nov. 8. Lindsay allowed Finley to leave court on an unsecured $500,000 bond.

Finley’s attorney, Christopher Ferguson, declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing.

Finley told Newsday in 2013 that he had bought a Bayville amusement park in 2004, and then demolished it because it was in “terrible disrepair.”

He said he opened the current amusement park in the autumn of 2006.

The Bayville Adventure Park is also the home of the Halloween-themed Bayville Scream Park and the Bayville Winter Wonderland.

"We always wanted to open up a haunted attraction, but it’s very difficult to find good locations for that because it’s such a seasonal business,” he said in 2013. “I had been looking for a long time and this was made perfect sense, because it could be a lot more than just the haunted attractions.”

Thomas Fattorusso, special-agent-in-charge of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations New York field office, said criminals too often look at disaster relief programs as opportunities for exploitation.

“While he may be the owner of an amusement park meant to bring joy, with his guilty plea and pending sentencing, Finley may be facing a future that he could find much less enjoyable,” Fattorusso said.

Congress created the PPP and EIDLP as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to companies impacted by the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PPP loans are bank loans — used to pay payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities — that were forgiven by the federal government if certain criteria were met.

"It was a part of the scheme to defraud that Finley submitted, or caused to be submitted, at least 29 online loan applications to obtain funds through the PPP and EIDL programs for the Subject Entities," court records said. "It was further a part of the scheme to defraud that one or more of these loan applications and certain supporting documentation contained materially false and fraudulent information, including, but not limited to, the Subject Entities' number of employees, payroll costs and intended use of certain of the loan proceeds, all of which was specifically designed to mislead the SBA and financial institutions administering the PPP and EIDL programs into disbursing various loans, which they did."

Daniel Brubaker, inspector-in-charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, New York Division, said in addition to buying the home on Nantucket, the defendant also used the funds to pay for personal expenses.

“Mr. Finley took advantage of a program intended to be used to support small businesses as part of the CARES Act of 2020 when he devised a scheme to submit fraudulent information to the government to obtain millions in funds during the pandemic to fund his lavish life," Brubaker said.

A website for the Bayville Adventure Park said Thursday the facility was open for business.