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U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford is pleased to announce a series of criminal and civil enforcement actions to combat fraud involving federal pandemic relief funds. Since June 2026, the District of Oregon’s Covid Fraud Task Force has brought 12 enforcement actions involving more than $29 million in losses and thus far resulting in more than $8.6 million in recovery. Since 2020, the District’s COVID Fraud Task Force recovered more than $314 million and held fraudsters accountable through similar efforts.

Today, the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division along with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the SBA Office of Inspector General, as part of a Heartland Fraud Surge announced the results of Operation No Doze, a surge of criminal enforcement actions targeting fraud in SBA’s small business COVID-era loan programs.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Kenneth C. Sparks III guilty of 20 counts.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Anchorage businesswoman was sentenced today to 3.8 years in prison for lying on federal loan applications and stealing identities to fraudulently obtain nearly $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

A Bergen County man, who orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain approximately $670,292 in COVID-19 relief funding, was sentenced on August 12, 2026, to 24 months imprisonment.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Mohammed Maio, 43, of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty earlier this month to Conspiracy to Commit Wire and Bank Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. Mohammed Maio also pleaded guilty in a second matter to Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Aiding Another in Making a Materially False Statement to Purchase a Firearm.

URBANA, Ill. – A Bourbonnais, Illinois, woman, Octavia Renee Murphy, 37, of the 700 block of Double Jack Street, was sentenced on May 19, 2026, to one year in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Timothy Wadsworth, 35, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The indictment accuses the conspirators of submitting at least 40 fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans that yielded at least $8.3 million.