Reports

BOSTON – A Brockton man was charged yesterday in federal court in Boston with wire fraud.

Preston Randall admitted applying to the U.S. Small Business Administration for a series of Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for various businesses using various names.

NEW ORLEANS – HARDELL MACK (“MACK”), age 54, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on March 25, 2026 before United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to a four count indictment charging him with making false statements related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), conspiring to commit mail fraud, money laundering, and possessing a stolen vehicle. Additionally, MACK plead guilty to wire fraud, a matter transferred from the Middle District of Louisiana, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

BOSTON – A former corrections officer employed by the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to submitting fraudulent information in an effort to obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The program awarded funds for the opening of new childcare facilities or the expansion of existing facilities.

Darnell Jones, also known as “EJ,” was sentenced today by United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry in federal court in Brooklyn to 145 months’ imprisonment for wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. During the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic, from March 2020 through August 2021, Jones used stolen personal identifying information to fraudulently obtain more than $800,000 from federally funded unemployment insurance programs established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

BOSTON – A Fitchburg, Mass. man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to his role in a fraud scheme that used the stolen identities of more than 100 individuals to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendant and his alleged co-conspirators also fraudulently obtained over $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio Washington and Nevada.

BOSTON – A Louisiana woman has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to her alleged involvement in a multi-state scheme to obtain millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for herself and others by submitting fraudulent applications to PPP lenders.

U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros is taking a fresh look at Covid-19 fraud.