Reports

Five Rio Grande Valley residents have been indicted for wire fraud in a scheme involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program

BOSTON – The Energy Federation, Inc. (EFI), a Franklin-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that provides advice on promoting energy efficiency and heating assistance to homeowners, has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for which it was not eligible.

Ten individuals face federal charges stemming from a fraud and money laundering operation that targeted government loan programs offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program. In addition, two of the defendants were charged with laundering the proceeds of a fraudulent unemployment insurance scheme.

A federal jury in Albany, Georgia, convicted a Georgia man today for his participation in a scheme to defraud the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) out of millions of dollars in benefits meant to assist unemployed individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Niall Alli was sentenced by United States District Judge Gary R. Brown to 48 months in prison, in connection with a $1.7 million disaster relief fraud and wire fraud perpetrated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the sentence, Alli was also ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration and approximately $135,000 in forfeiture consisting of assets seized from corporate bank accounts and Ethereum from a corporate Coinbase wallet.

Rena Barrett, a former Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loan officer, pled guilty on August 11, 2025 to making false statements to the SBA in connection with applications for more than $550,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic loans.