Select Dining is the Face of How Irony Can Be Funny

Funny how irony can sometimes be hilarious, even though it’s not intended to be.

Restauranteur Jeffrey Gossett, owner of upscale Select Dining in Greenville, South Carolina has just been proven guilty of fraud. He was charged with the theft of $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds. Select Dining is directly across the street from the Greer Chamber of Commerce.

The “Chamber” could arrange a great course in business ethics and they wouldn’t have too far to go on the field trip.

Fall from Grace

Gossett reputedly bought the property in the upscale business area for a bit over $1 million and of course, spent a great deal of money on renovations. The restaurant was a showpiece of the Greenville business district and he was widely interviewed by the media and those in the business community.

His first months were highly successful but then COVID-19 hit and as with so many business owners, Gossett applied for PPP funds as 2019 turned into the first months of 2020.

According to Molly Hulsey, a writer for the GSA Business Report (November 4, 2021):

“Over the course of six months, Gossett received close to $2 million under various individual and business names, some of which he didn’t own. Gossett operated accounts under Simply Everything Inc., Select Dining, Select Dining LLC dba as The Epicurean, Keystone Investment Properties, C. Tim Keagy LLC, Jeffrey Gossett and Elizabeth Gossett and Adriel Gossett.”

In other words, this once highly respected restauranteur created a shell company, placed a group of closed or non-existent businesses under its heading, and claimed money for several entities that no longer existed.

Gossett is facing 20 years in prison for numerous counts of wire fraud and money laundering. He applied for relief loans for businesses that weren’t there and he pocketed the money.

Said Hulsey:

“Gossett faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, three years of supervision to follow the term of imprisonment and restitution.”

And another irony, the FBI investigated the case along with the Small Business Administration. The SBA often works closely with organizations such as Chambers of Commerce to teach them the nuances of funding, promotion and encouraging entrepreneurs.

Greed isn’t Good

Whether the fraud occurs in the massive skyscrapers of Manhattan or a beautifully renovated restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, the dynamic is remarkably similar. Jeffrey Gossett wasn’t applying for funds to find a cure for a disease or to fund a school for poverty-stricken youth in Malawi. He was spending it on himself.

The whole idea of the PPP protection, was to protect. It is that simple. The funds were intended to help businesses over the very rough patch that came to characterize 2020. The funds were not intended to be diverted to luxury items, cars, clothing or anything other than keeping the Select Dining restaurant and its employees in business. Gossett knew this, but instead he created a scam.

Gossett felt that his good name was more than enough to trick people in South Carolina into believing he could operate without oversite to steal funds. Where did the funds come from? Well, in part by, the same people who patronized his restaurant, who cheered his grand opening, who wrote about him and wished him well. Theft of these dollars is theft from us.

He felt he had a need for the money to indulge himself. Perhaps he thought well, “everyone was doing it.” It is not true. There were hundreds of thousands of businesses, some of who, I would imagine were located in Greenville – maybe even Chamber of Commerce members – who operated ethically and honestly.

It leads me to the idea of rationalization. To Jeffrey Gossett, the PPP funds represented a big, bad government that simply took from people. In truth, the PPP money was a lifesaver. The loans featured low or no cost interest rates and allowed millions of people to keep their jobs and medical benefits. If Gossett rationalized, it fit his own interpretation of ethics.

Fraud is almost always local. It is perpetrated by the business next door, the person in the next cubicle, the organization in the next town. Fraud is unethical and costs us billions each year. In the case of Jeffrey Gossett, it will provide him with a jail cell and fines.

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