Reports

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The former director of a local Islamic center pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to embezzling funds from the mosque, defrauding public housing, and filing for fraudulent COVID assistance funds.

What We Looked AtSince March 2020, Congress has provided $69.5 billion in supplemental funding to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to help transit systems in the United States mitigate the impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As of August 1, 2022, FTA had obligated over $63 billion and expended over $46 billion. In addition to increased funding, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES), Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA), and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Acts permitted changes in how recipients use FTA funds...

Dionneshae Forland admitted a scheme to fraudulently obtain money from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Missouri Small Business Grant Program.

Semaj Portis submitted 52 fraudulent applications for rent assistance to the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Jeremy Trapp was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz II to 18 months in prison for cutting a brake line of a New York City Police Department (NYPD) van and 18 months in prison for committing wire fraud in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic-related Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The sentences will run concurrently.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former Columbus woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to 16 counts of wire and passport fraud. The defendant stole the identity of a baby who died as an infant and used the infant’s identity to obtain a passport, a student pilot license, a job as a flight attendant, and pandemic relief loans.