Marina owner pleads guilty

Admitted to lying about hurricane damage for federal loan

HARTFORD — The owner of an Old Saybrook marina pleaded guilty in federal court to bilking the federal government out of $1.6 million by lying about damage caused by Superstorm Sandy for a small business loan.

The man, 39-year-old Scott Sundholm, has since paid full restitution, but still faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 6, U.S. Attorney John H. Durham and Small Business Administration Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware said in a prepared statement.

Sundholm pleaded guilty Monday to one count of making false statements for the purpose of obtaining a Small Business Administration loan before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford.

Sundholm owns and operates S&S Marine, LLC, a marina located in Old Saybrook.

In 2016, federal prosecutors say he received a disaster loan from the SBA after claiming Superstorm Sandy, which struck the state four years earlier, had “caused a tidal surge at the marina and damaged floating boat docks, a boat ramp, a bath house, a metal shop building and other.”

However, an investigation revealed Sundholm had demolished the bathhouse — which was dilapidated and smaller than the one he replaced it with — more than a month before the hurricane struck.

Other claims he made about damage caused by the storm were determined to be untrue, according to federal prosecutors.

Sundholm has been released pending sentencing.

The case has been investigated by the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Pierpont Jr.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo A view in Old Saybrook.