"The equipment-lease applications, which were inflated so that the defendants could obtain lucrative “commissions” for themselves, were submitted along with false invoices that purported to document the sale of computer equipment to the small businesses. The defendants submitted the fraudulent equipment-lease applications because the qualifying criteria were less stringent than for a cash loan. After the lending institutions approved financing for the equipment leases, the proceeds were not used to purchase equipment as promised to the lenders. Instead, the money was used to make improper cash loans to the small businesses and to pay lucrative commissions to employees at CapitalWerks, Brickbanc and the other companies."