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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.

The owner of Theophin Consulting LLC has pleaded guilty to wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining Covid-19 relief loan proceeds under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) program.

SAN DIEGO – Restaurateur Leronce Suel was sentenced in federal court today to 42 months in prison for submitting more than $1.7 million in fraudulent applications for COVID relief programs and failing to report the income to the IRS.

A San Diego restaurant owner was sentenced to 42 months in prison for schemes to defraud COVID-19 relief programs and filing false tax returns.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, announced the indictment of two businessmen, a certified public accountant, and four Puerto Rico-based companies for a fraudulent scheme to illegally obtain federal recovery funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, bribe a bank employee, and launder the fraudulent proceeds of the scheme.

Orlando, FL – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announces that Joshua Robinson (32, Texas) has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Robinson faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Two brothers from Sedona, Arizona, pleaded guilty for conspiring with one another and others to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) out of nearly $109 million in loans intended to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PROVIDENCE – Four Florida residents convicted in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island for executing one of the largest schemes in the country to defraud Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act programs, including in Rhode Island, have been sentenced to federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Lydia K. Griggsby sentenced Andra Shirone Thompson, 48, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to a year and a day for two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Thompson pled guilty to conspiring to defraud Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act loan programs and his role in a years-long scheme to defraud commercial equipment financing companies

ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke woman, who conspired with dozens of other individuals to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program, pled guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines man was sentenced today to 54 months in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger has sentenced Crystal Denean Harvell (37, Jacksonville) to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving a line of credit scheme and wire fraud involving COVID relief fraud through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The court also ordered Harvell to pay $131,782.63 in restitution to the victims she defrauded and to the United States government. Harvell agreed to forfeit $20,415, which is traceable to proceeds of the wire fraud offense involving COVID relief fraud. Harvell entered a guilty plea on September...

A woman from the Mid-City area of Los Angeles was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and to submitting false claims in an unsuccessful effort to secure from the IRS nearly $1.3 million in pandemic-related tax credits, the Justice Department announced today

ATLANTA – Jerry Baptiste, the last of 20 defendants charged in a wide-ranging criminal scheme to steal Paycheck Protection Program funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been sentenced for his role in the scheme.

A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment last week against Akash Kumar Singh, 48, of Sacramento, charging him with four counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering.

BOSTON – A Boston woman was sentenced in federal court in Boston for a scheme to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

HONOLULU – Acting United States Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson announced that Martin Kao, 51, of Honolulu, was sentenced today in federal court by Senior United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi to 87 months imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised released for COVID-relief wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud.

A Collin County man and a Floridian have been convicted of federal violations related to a COVID fraud scheme in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr.

Patrick Strauss, 54, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 48 months of probation – including six months of home confinement to be followed by a period of intermittent incarceration, that is, 26 weekends in jail – and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $304,900 and fined $8,784, all for participating in a conspiracy that fraudulently obtained more than $304,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans.

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. SipLorenzo Gordon was sentenced to five years of probation, 200 hours of community service and $308,354 restitution.

Yani Stancioff submitted fraudulent applications for PPP and EIDL funds for businesses he didn't own, stealing more than $51,000.

Earlier today, at the federal court in Central Islip, an indictment was unsealed charging Keith Williams, Janine Davis, Morais Dicks, James Hames, Jr., Jamari Lewis, Ewendra Mathurin, and Tiffany Williams with conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, and aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns.

ATLANTA - Boeroepae Jordan has been sentenced to a new term in prison for defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) program of more than $323,000, less than a year after being released from federal prison for firearms and drug crimes.

A Mansfield businesswoman was sentenced today to more than 7 years in federal prison in connection with a fraudulent scheme to obtain approximately $8.5 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that CLIFTON C. JAMES (“JAMES”), age 50, of New Orleans, pled guilty on January 15, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo to making false statements, theft of government funds, and money laundering related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). He also pled guilty to false tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service.

Meghan Martell, 33, submitted an application for a PPP loan, falsely stating she was the sole proprietor of a beauty salon with gross income in 2019 of $99,870 and submitting fraudulent documentation in support of the application.

HONOLULU – On January 9, 2025, Senior United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright sentenced Christopher A. Mazzei, 46, and Erin V. Mazzei, 43, both of Arroyo Grande, California, to 36 months and 27 months of imprisonment, respectively, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud the government of forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds intended for Coronavirus-related relief.

Tyree Jones, 32, conspired with others to exploit the COVID19 pandemic by submitting fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds.

BOSTON – A Boston man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston after being convicted of fraudulently obtaining pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Baltimore, Maryland – Today, Melvin Thompson Jr., 34, of Chestertown, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return in connection with submitting fraudulent loan applications.

A Springfield, Mo., business owner was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a nearly $14 million wire fraud conspiracy that utilized his businesses, as well as fake businesses, to fraudulently receive loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Robert Baines was ordered to repay the $41,484 in PPP loans, as well as $4,815 to the property management company where he once worked.

FRANCESCO DISTEFANO and a co-defendant allegedly used fraud proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini Huracan, Maserati Ghibli, and Porsche 911.

Cassandra Yolanda Clarke, 45 of Miramar, Fla., had her initial appearance yesterday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Fort Lauderdale and was charged with fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief loans and grants under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man today admitted his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain a Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Following four days of testimony before a federal jury, a Raleigh man and business owner pled guilty to a Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud, that netted the man almost $300,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Act (PPP) COVID-19 loans. This fraud was part of a multimillion-dollar national scheme, and, to date, more than 30 defendants have pled guilty and 26 have been sentenced.

An indictment was unsealed yesterday in the Northern District of Texas charging two co-founders of Blueacorn, a lender service provider, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 relief money guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

A former Blue Springs, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court today for her role in a conspiracy that resulted in more than $220,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans being issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Jason Toland, 44, of Wheatland, was sentenced today to two years and 11 months in prison for submitting false claims against the United States related to COVID-19 pandemic tax credits. Toland was also ordered to pay $2,078,462 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and the Small Business Administration.

YASIR G. HAMED, 59, of Woodbridge, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with offenses stemming from an alleged scheme to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BOSTON – A Boston man was sentenced on Nov. 15, 2024 for fraud and false statements charges in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) made available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

SAN DIEGO – After an eight-day trial, a federal jury has convicted Denny Thakorbhai Bhakta on all 25 counts of securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in connection with a $35 million dollar investment fraud scheme and COVID-relief fraud scheme.