More fraud convictions were added to Robert Burns criminal record after he pled guilty to federal wire fraud. Burns, who owns and runs “The Space Coast Rocket”, has other incidents on his record, but the most recent involved federal relief funding. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, Robert William Burns, III (44, Rockledge) faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in 2021, Burns applied for three Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans to support two of his businesses – RB3 Ventures LLC and The Social Wizards. In all three applications, Burns made false statements to obtain the loans. In one instance, he inflated his company’s income to obtain a larger payout and supported the application with false or fictitious tax documents. In total, Burns fraudulently obtained $57,186 in PPP funds. Burns then spent all the funds on non-business purposes.
As part of his plea agreement, Burns has agreed to forfeit $57,186 and make full restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard Varadan.
Burns’ growing record includes a case where Burns violated election laws according to atate administrative law Judge Lawrence Stevenson, who said that Burns “willfully” violated election laws ranging from failure to report political contributions, making unauthorized expenditures and failing to include proper disclaimers on campaign advertisements. Earier this year in April, Burns pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in exchange for prosecutors to drop more serious charges related to an incident last fall in which Burns filmed himself angrily confronting a woman at her Melbourne workplace. A Brevard County court agreed to toss out assault and trespassing charges and lower a felony witness tampering charge against Burns to the misdemeanor count in exchange for his plea, court records show. Burns was ordered to apologize to the woman in writing and pay court costs related to the case as part of the deal.
