Reports

LAS VEGAS — A Nevada woman was sentenced yesterday to 54 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to defraud the United States by fraudulently claiming nearly $100 million in COVID-19 related employment tax credits.

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).

NEW ORLEANS – WELLINGTON BROWN (“BROWN”) age 53, of New Orleans, was charged by bill of information on March 31, 2026 with providing a materially false statement to the Small Business Administration in an application to obtain a government sponsored loan designed to assist small business owners during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

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

BOSTON – A South Carolina businessman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Worcester to COVID relief fraud.

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.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Jesus Ramos aka Manny, 42, of Dunkirk, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to theft of government funds, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.