Reports

NEW ORLEANS – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that ERNEST X. TAYLOR, JR. (“ TAYLOR”), of Laplace, LA, age 41, was sentenced on October 29, 2025 to 84 months in the Bureau of Prisons, after previously pleading guilty to two counts of making false statements related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), by U.S. District Judge Darrel James Papillion.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced today that on November 19, 2025 REHA JANEE ARVIE, ( “ARVIE”), age 35, of Westwego, LA, was sentenced for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced today that SHARNAE EVERY (“ EVERY”), age 30, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced on October 9, 2025, for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.

A New Jersey tax preparer was found guilty by a jury for his scheme seeking more than $170 million in fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) by causing more than 1,900 false tax returns to be filed with the IRS claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits.

A Texas woman pleaded guilty today to fraudulently obtaining more than $28,000 in federal disaster relief money by falsely claiming that she was a Pasadena resident living in a property damaged by the Eaton Fire and to fraudulently obtaining more than $54,000 in jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two of the defendants are also charged with fraudulently obtaining Covid-relief loans.

The government estimates that the overseas scammers stole over $1 million.

BOSTON – The founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the local nonprofit Violence in Boston (VIB) pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to making misrepresentations in order to obtain thousands of dollars in donations to non-profit Violence in Boston (VIB) that she then diverted to pay for personal expenses, defrauding the City of Boston out of COVID-19 relief funds and rental assistance money, defrauding the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office out of Community Reinvestment Grant funds, filing false tax return for two years, and failing to file tax returns for two years.