Reports

Brett Deuter and his businesses, Deuter Construction, LLC, and Enlighten, LLC, consented to an $850,000 judgment against them in United States District Court after admitting to violations of the False Claims Act, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida remains a leader in COVID-19 pandemic relief prosecutions, holding a range of actors accountable for these crimes. Over this summer alone, the district has charged 17 individuals with COVID-19 relief fraud cases, with scheme amounts totaling over $21 million.

Travis Lee Harris has been sentenced to federal prison for wire fraud stemming from his fraudulent acquisition of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for nearly $1,000,000, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A federal superseding indictment was unsealed Monday in the District of Oregon charging an Arizona man and three associates for conspiring with one another and others to devise and carry out a scheme that attempted to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration out of at least $178 million in loans intended to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baltimore, Maryland –Senior United States District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Ayaz Qureshi, age 55, of Severna Park, Maryland to a year and a day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, in connection with a conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting financial institutions, relating to more than $250,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) benefits. PPP benefits were a program created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which was a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans...

LAS VEGAS – A federal jury convicted a Nevada man Wednesday for defrauding three banks of more than $11.2 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds intended to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic.

SAN DIEGO – Andre Shammas, owner of Shammas Funding Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court today to fraud charges, admitting that he submitted bogus applications for more than $5 million in pandemic-related loans intended to help struggling businesses during the pandemic.