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Recent headlines state that $191 billion in pandemic unemployment insurance was lost to fraud. Not exactly. In this Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's Congressional Testimony, around $76 billion of that is classified as fraud. The rest of those funds are referred to as improper payments.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Roberto Soliman, 43, of Niagara Falls, NY, pleaded guilty before Judge Meredith A. Vacca to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

Following a weeklong trial, Carl Delano Torjagbo, a/k/a Karl Lucius Delano, was convicted by a federal jury of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after obtaining a fraudulent $9.6 million Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan and filing fraudulent tax returns that generated a $3.4 million IRS refund.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced today that more than $2.5 million was collected from a real estate developer and part-time resident of Vancouver, Washington, for fraudulently obtained Covid-relief program funds.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today Hormoz Mansouri, 71, of Amherst, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and bank fraud, was sentenced to time served and five years’ supervised release, to include one year of home detention. He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $3,197,562 and to forfeit $1,888,603.

SHARHABEEL SHREITEH, an accountant in Palos Hills, Ill., and TRACY MITCHELL, the owner of a business in Joliet, Ill., allegedly engaged in fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

ANTRUM COSTON, 41, of New Haven, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 37 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for fraud, money laundering, and drug offenses.

Irvin Coats and Pamela S. Hubbard fraudulently submitted applications that resulted in three loans.