NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced today the indictment of SHARNAE EVERY (EVERY), age 27, of Houston, Texas, who was charged with one (1) count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349 and two (2) counts of Mail Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341. Many believe a high percentage of these grants were stolen, but some federal prosecutors with heavy caseloads may find it hard to justify New Orleans, Louisiana 70130. Check out bed occupancy rate of hospitals. PPP Fraud in Pride, Louisiana. IRS-Criminal Investigation remains dedicated to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that these types of fraud are investigated and the offenders are punished to the fullest extent of the law.. Eastern District of Louisiana That story of corruption inside SBA has been overshadowed by other criminal allegations against Greenberg, notably child sex trafficking charges, and a scandal that might bring down a member of Congress. | 217,332 TOTAL PPP LOANS. The SBA Employee would and did use her access to the SBAs computer systems and her access to EIDLs to manipulate the status of EIDLs to trigger the system to extend funding for EIDLs submitted for the benefit for Joel Micah Greenberg, the indictment alleges. He also opened bank accounts and lines of credit at financial institutions and credit card companies in the names of his elderly victims, according to the Justice Department. Published 8:46 am Sunday, September 11, 2022 . The offices 44 investigators have been working at least three times the caseload that theyre usually used to working. The FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and other offices of inspectors general are also part of the federal law enforcement effort. The program began issuing loans again in January 2021, and some businesses are eligible for a second loan. $350K-$1M loan to BENOIT WELDING, INC. BENOIT WELDING, INC. $150K-$350K loan to THE DELAHOUSSAYE CO., INC. The Small Business Administrations Office of Inspector General found a significant gap in the agencys data on underserved markets, such as ethnicity, veteran status, and women-owned businesses. As of this month, weve seized over $580 million from over 23,000 fraudulent EIDL loans.. POGO has sought additional data from the Small Business Administration, and to improve data collection. project, POGO has been examining equitable access to government loans, grants, and contracts. More than a year after the pandemic brought much of the economy to a standstill, mounting fraud cases underscore how the Small Business Administrations (SBA) oversight of its massive taxpayer-backed lending programs proved to be inadequate as they became magnets for fraudsters. Find out how you can get involved and stay up to date with our work. katherine noelle wyman; cape breton post obituaries 2022. location symbol text in word; list of female jockeys australia; mike conley house columbus ohio address Search arrest records and find latests mugshots and bookings for Misdemeanors and Felonies. Thats because, at least in part, its optional for loan applicants to supply that information. A Project On Government Oversight (POGO) review of court filings up to April 2, 2021, found that the charged individuals allegedly sought a total of nearly $445 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. Data is available, but its reliability for the purpose of assessing whether Paycheck Protection Program loans are reaching the underserved communities that Congress wanted prioritized is limited because the demographic data is incomplete. The Veterans Administration, Office of the Inspector General, is an active member of the PRAC Fraud Task Force. Suspicious activity reports for small business loan fraud continued at levels far higher than normal through the end of 2020, according to POGOs review of federal data. NGUYEN and DAT HO will be presented in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in connection with these and other unrelated charges. Lawmaker wants police trained to handle Alzheimers, dementia patients, Health Minute: First at-home flu and COVID test authorized. SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA LANDSCAPING LLC. Ms. Strauss also thanked Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York for their assistance with the investigation. As part of its own COVID-19 relief spending tracker Thats more than 10 times the fraud recoveries five years after the 2009 stimulus became law. We expect to go to trial because of the serious nature of this matter.. Whether bad faith was involved is another matter. The PPP was developed to ease the pain of COVID-19 economic restraints on working Americans. The False Claims Act will play a central role in the Departments pursuit of COVID-19 related fraud, Michael Granston, a Justice Department deputy assistant attorney general, said in December. The Department of Justice (DOJ) says as of Aug. 8, more than 5.2 million forgivable loans have been approved, at a total of more than $525 billion. Unlike the previous round of the PPP, loan guaranty approval is now contingent on passing SBA fraud checks, Treasurys Do Not Pay database, and public records, the fact sheet states. When the government spends money, taxpayers deserve to know how it was spent, Clarion Ledger Editor Marlon A. Walker says. Click on a company's name to see additional loan details. During the programs first round, the Small Business Administration issued 5.2 million loans between April and August 2020. Director for the Louisiana SBA District Office Michael Ricks said while that information may raise some red flags on the surface, he explained that not complying with an industrys licensing requirements does not necessarily disqualify someone from being eligible for a PPP loan. Red Flags: The First Year of COVID-19 Loan Fraud Cases, $189 Billion in Questionable Paycheck Protection Program Loans, With over $189 billion in questionable Paycheck Protection Program loans, law enforcement has just scratched the surface, By This is your state and county equivalent level look at how many have gotten a dose or doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Given the focus of the PPP to support employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robinson Bradshaw firm wrote last May, it is easy to imagine how a dissatisfied employee observing imperfect business conduct in securing a PPP loan or applying loan proceeds could use that insider information to bring a qui tam action under the FCA.. However, the Trump administrations Justice Department also sought to assuage companies concerns, especially in regard to qui tam False Claims Act lawsuits. Gaetz has denied the allegations and Greenberg has pleaded not guilty, although Greenbergs attorney and a prosecutor have said in court that he may be striking a plea deal soon. Louisiana Workforce Commission Suspected Fraud Form. If the borrower can prove they used the money to pay employees and eligible expenses, they can ask the SBA for loan forgiveness. This Office was one of the districts affected by the SolarWinds intrusion. The line is staffed 24/7. 107 of the cases, accused individuals allegedly falsified payroll documentation to justify either getting a loan or getting a bigger loan than they were eligible for; 93 of the cases, accused individuals allegedly created fake tax documents used for verifying details in loan applications; 41 of the cases, accused individuals allegedly created bogus companies to get loans; 28 of the cases, accused individuals allegedly used defunct companies to get loans; 20 of the cases, accused individuals used stolen identities or aliases while applying for loans; 12 of the cases, accused individuals allegedly falsified ownership of existing legitimate businesses; 28 of the cases, accused individuals also obtained Economic Injury Disaster loans (some of these individuals have been accused of fraudulently obtaining these loans. April 15, 2021. And these cases are just the beginning. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael C. McGinnis and Sagar K. Ravi are in charge of the prosecution. Saintvils attorney declined to comment. The addresses listed for the two companies, according to SBA loan data, also do not match the addresses in the states corporation recordsyet another sign of potential fraud. All rights reserved. One percent of the recovery acts $501 billion in spending would be about $5 billion. In remarks before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an influential business lobbying group, last June before the SBA released partial data identifying Paycheck Protection Program recipients of loans above $150,000, then-Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ethan P. Davis said that with the administrations decision to release that information, some have predicted more qui tams as a result., Davis then said, Let me be clear. (Eligible companies and nonprofit organizations can apply for and receive both Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loans.). The Department of Justice confirms they are looking into reports of PPP fraud across the nation. While the Small Business Administration could be doing more with data on the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, the agencys independent watchdog has embraced this work. I want to thank the U.S. Attorneys Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and commitment to seeing justice served., FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr said: The benefits offered by the CARES Act for PPP loans were established to help small businesses survive during the pandemic. The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. If Congress amends the underutilized Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, efforts by inspectors general to fight fraud in pandemic related spending would be enhanced, according to Horowitzs testimony. And if theyre not interested in prosecuting, for whatever reason, we dont further pursue it at that time., Many of the cases are moving quickly, despite their complexity. They allegedly exploited a program designed to provide vital funding for small businesses that are legitimately struggling in the midst of the pandemic. Origin Bank. The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) is in Baton Rouge and reports can be filed here. Showing 50 of 9,060 results. This case was brought in New Orleans, Louisiana. BATON ROUGE, La. But in the year since the CARES Act became law, it has received nearly 150,000 hotline complaints, representing a 19,500% increase over prior years, according to a staff memo from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The Small Business Administration has released a list of businesses that have received emergency pandemic loans. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is longstanding, and until recently the Small Business Administration limited these loans to $150,000 (last month it raised the cap to $500,000). BATON ROUGE, La. He said that lenders have been extremely cooperative during investigations and their suspicious activity reports have been very useful.. 2020 Louisiana Individual Income Tax returns and payments are due Monday, May 17, 2021. edgewater hotel haunted; can uk consultant doctors work in usa; is spitfire a compliment This table shows the top 5 industries in Louisiana by number of loans awarded, with average loan amounts and number of jobs reported. judy norton children; court ordered community service california This March, the Government Accountability Office revealed that 4 months after SBA started using a system to approve Economic Injury Disaster loans in batches, agency officials realized this system contained alerts that should have been reviewed by loan officers, but had not been. In 111 instances, the zip code in the Small Business Administrations data did not match the state provided. However, not everyone taking part in the federal program was looking to keep their business doors open. For instance, in one larger case, the Justice Department has charged 19 individuals to date. All totaled, in that city of 43,000 people lenders approved $1.3 million dollars just for barbershop owners. & Indeed, on the day lenders began processing applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans last year, Small Business Administration Inspector General Hannibal Mike Ware issued a white paper outlining lessons learned from previous stimulus loan programs. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Both the U.S. Attorneys Office and the Louisiana Attorney General have encouraged the community to report suspected fraud. An official website of the United States government. But, in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, the Small Business Administration has not conducted robust data analysis to find instances of loans and grants that may have been fraudulently obtained, according to the Government Accountability Office. . Normally, the agency can require loan applicants to fill out a form allowing the agency to verify their tax information with the Internal Revenue Service. Aqeel and others in the scheme allegedly used loan funds to pay individuals they claimed were employees but were actually fake employees, according to a court filing. Analyzing that data for red flags is a way to identity subsets of loans and grants that warrant closer scrutiny and to help direct scarce investigative resources. Pursuant to the CARES Act, the amount of PPP funds a business is eligible to receive is determined by the number of employees employed by the business and their average payroll costs. Todays Internet search for PPP Loan Fraud Arrests will certainly produce an unwanted result one that includes the name of their company leading the headlines., IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen said: In this difficult time when many Americans are struggling financially, it is repugnant that there are those who would fraudulently take advantage of relief efforts offered. In a case that garnered national attention, the U.S. Secret Service seized over $8.4 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds from a seemingly bogus ministry in Orlando, Florida that had no apparent operations at its physical location and a website filled with generic language taken from other religious organizations. EVERY primarily used Cash App to receive the initial payments. According to todays indictment, EVERY created a fictitious business called Natural Hair Afro, LLC, Houma, LA 70360 and used this fictitious business name on nearly all of the fraudulent PPP loan applications. Louisiana. The Justice Department has accused numerous defendants of using Paycheck Protection Program loans for unlawful purposes, such as purchasing private planes, sports cars, and taking pricey trips to Las Vegas casinos. In less than six months, more than 50 people have been charged with allegedly committing fraud in connection with the program. And there is a lot of gray area in the Paycheck Protection Program, partly because the Small Business Administrations rules for the program changed repeatedly and were unclear, and because Congress created loose criteria for loan eligibility and allowed applicants to self-certify their information. The DOJ says this ill-gotten money was in many cases used to buy luxury personal items like cars, homes, vacation trips, and jewelry. Have a question about Government Services? Barbershops were one of the most common businesses to apply. The Small Business Administration has released a list of businesses that have received emergency pandemic loans.. Click here to report information on Amazon warehouses. Data analysis could also help the agency assess potential policy changes, and the Biden administration made some changes to make access to relief more equitable earlier this year. Compare the spread of the infection with other areas in the U.S. NGUYEN, 44, and VICTORIA HO, 31, both of Hicksville, New York, and DAT HO, 33, of the Bronx, New York, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; one count of major fraud against the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to make false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Department of Justice, and in particular my office here in the Middle District of Louisiana, is committed to investigating and prosecuting those who abuse the system for personal gain and will use every resource at our disposal to protect those federal dollars and the businesses they are intended to help. This table shows the top 5 industries in Louisiana by number . Report it to the Small Business Administrations with just a few clicks. Both the outgoing Trump administration and the Biden administration appear to have learned lessons from the fraud that occurred in 2020. The program worked like this. We are concerned only with actionable fraud. He added that, in selecting enforcement targets, we will follow the law, and we will not pursue companies that access CARES Act programs in good faith and in compliance with the rules.. But according to the Justice Department, neither company paid anywhere near the purported amounts and had few if any employees. Kindambu pleaded guilty in January. The PPP loan was created through the March 2020 CARES Act as a lifeline for businesses struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. If a company is eligible for a loan and submits certifications in good faith, that company will have nothing to fear from the Civil Division. (In late March, the Justice Department told Congress that it had charged $446.8 million in losses related to PPP. Some of these cases may still be under seal and charges are routinely being unsealed.) Nick Schwellenbach is a Senior Investigator at POGO. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) established by the CARES Act, provides small businesses with funding for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities. In less than six months, more than 50 people have been charged with allegedly committing fraud in connection with the program. 6 AVG COMPANY SIZE. (WAFB) - Since the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) launched to help businesses pay their employees to prevent great losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some people have of course tried to exploit the program and defraud the federal government of money. As far as the state of Louisiana is concerned, there is no requirement that a sole proprietor have a specific license at the state, said Ricks. how to get to quezon avenue mrt station Uncovering hot babes since 1919. The Small Business Administration has sent 1.34 million referrals related to Economic Injury Disaster loans to its office of inspector general, which is tackling these and Paycheck Protection Program fraud cases in coordination with a host of other law enforcement agencies. Otherwise, the borrower is on the hook for the money. Law enforcement insiders say many more pandemic loan fraud cases will be brought in the months and years ahead. According to the Justice Department, Didier Kindambu obtained two loans by creating fraudulent payroll documentation for each business.. While not all of these new reports can be attributed to the government relief effort, they are a sizeable share of the increase., Similarly, a February report by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee stated that Identity theft is on the rise and has been exploited by bad actors to obtain pandemic response funds, such as unemployment insurance benefits, PPP loans, and EIDLs., Grossman told POGO, There are also PPP and EIDL cases were aware of that are being investigated by state and local authorities, because my agents out in the field get calls from state police and local police departments, where they have received complaints from citizens on identity theft, for example.. The rebates, funded by the CARES Act, Act 311 of the 2020 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature allocated federal CARES Act funds to provide grants of up to $15,000 to eligible small businesses through a program administered by the Louisiana Department of Treasury. Maybe, maybe not all.. If convicted, EVERY faces a maximum penalty of twenty (20) years, followed by a term of supervised release for up to three (3) years, a fine up to $250,000.00, or twice the gross gain to the defendant, or twice the gross loss to any victim, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee, per count. If approved, the SBA pays the lender back using federal funds. The DOJ says falsified tax records were submitted and in some cases, stolen personal information was also used in these attempts to defraud the PPP. (WAFB) - Since the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) launched to help businesses pay their employees to prevent great losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some people have. Seven of the approved loans were processed by Cross River Bank, a top Paycheck Protection Program lender that closely allied itself with financial technology firms. PPP Loan Recipient List By State Louisiana 217,332 TOTAL PPP LOANS $12.2B TOTAL LOAN AMOUNT $56,095 AVERAGE PPP LOAN 6 AVG COMPANY SIZE Louisiana has a total of 217,332 businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the Small Business Administration. Representative James Clyburn (D-SC), chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, said in the March 25 hearing that the Trump administration ignored flags of potential fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, and approved loans in batches with little to no vetting and abandoned a rule that required two SBA employees to approve each loan application., The Trump administration ignored flags of potential fraud, While a year has passed since the CARES Act became law and there are more checks now, government watchdogs say the Small Business Administrations oversight of the lending programs is still inadequate. However, industry insiders say the barbershop industry is largely cash-based, making it easy to operate under the radar. The release states that, In exchange for a fee, My Buddy Loans took personal identifying information from victims and promised to file an application for an agricultural grant, which they said was available to those who owned a few acres of land. Instead, the defendants Clifton Pape, 45, and Sally Jung, 58, both of Cleveland, Texas, actually filed fraudulent EIDL applications with the SBA that contained the victims personal identification information.. (WAFB) - Since the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) launched to help businesses pay their employees to prevent great losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some people have of course tried to exploit the program and defraud the federal government of money. Some of these qui tam lawsuits are traditional whistleblower cases, but others involve individuals who are slicing and dicing the data that has been made available about loans, according to Grossman. That situation may arise in cases of apparent fraud involving Economic Injury Disaster loan advance grants of $10,000 or less. Generally, cases where there is any substantial gray areasuch as a lack of unambiguous evidence of fraud or when it wasnt clear what a government rule requiredare far more likely to lead to civil enforcement, or to no enforcement. In connection with loan applications for COVID-19 relief available from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of the SBA, the defendants falsely and grossly overstated the number of employees and payroll at their nail salons and other businesses through fraudulent and doctored payroll and tax records in order to obtain larger loans. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justices National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form. In other words, lenders and the Small Business Administration did not prevent the alleged fraud in these instances before taxpayer dollars went out the door. Babysitter arrested after 5-year-old fatally shot by 6-year-old cousin. However, both Kennedy and Ricks say the good the program did far outweigh any possible fraud. Aqeel used some of the proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini sports car, according to the Justice Department. EVERY falsely certified that the applications and the information provided in the supporting documents were true and accurate when she electronically submitted the fraudulent PPP loan applications. Applicants fraudulently obtained at least $16 million, per the Justice Department. In connection with these loan applications, the defendants falsely and grossly overstated the number of employees at the Victoria Companies and wages paid to those employees in order to obtain larger loans. Investigators say those accused made false statements about things like how many people they employ, their average monthly revenue, and payroll figures. Whistleblowers Said This Company Is a Fake Small Business. Two of the companies, Symbiont Retailers and Horizon Enterprises, were not in good standing before the Paycheck Protection Program began. Firm estimates of fraud related to CARES Act spending, including the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, may not be available until many more cases are brought and more analysis has been conductedpotentially years away. More due diligence on the part of lenders or the Small Business Administration could have prevented at least some instances of fraud, especially when applicants appear to have inflated or fabricated payroll expenses or used defunct or bogus companies to illicitly obtain loans. Sah submitted falsified tax and payroll documentation in which he claimed to have numerous employees and hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll expenses, according to a Justice Department press release, but none of the businesses he sought loans for had any employees. Data analysts at the inspector generals office have been combing through Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loan data to look for markers of potential fraud, such as repeat loan applicants from the same physical addresses, Grossman told POGO. In July, banks filed nearly seven times the average number of suspicious activity reports. At least one Small Business Administration employee allegedly took bribes last year to process fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster loans, according to criminal charges recently unveiled by the Justice Department related to the developing scandal involving Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The line is staffed 24/7. In the three decades since the laws passage, there have been only six whistleblower settlements involving FIRREA, yielding $19.9 billion in recoveries, but only $9.3 million in rewards to whistleblowers, according to Whistleblower Network News. However, a check of public records for business licenses with the Secretary of State office revealed no active business licenses for those eight individuals. But such gaps can create ambiguities that muddy the waters in overseeing spending., Still, much can be done with the data that does exist. So now, he says agencies must go after anyone who might be taking money theyre not entitled to. In Louisiana, a federal grand jury recently indicted a Plaquemine woman named Lestreonia Rodrigue on fraud charges. U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, Former Louisiana Woman Indicted for Preparing Over 110 Fraudulent PPP Loans Totaling Over $1.1 Million Dollars, 2_ecf_doc_1_-_sharnae_every_indictment_redacted_sanitized.pdf, Dr. Charles J. Southall, III Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Money Laundering, Obtaining Over $889,000 Through Fraud, New Orleans Man Sentenced for Theft and Sale of Motor Vehicle from Mississippi Car Dealership, Two More New Orleans Residents Sentenced in Staged Automobile Collision Scheme, Former Louisiana Woman Indicted For Preparing Over 110 Fraudulent PPP Loans Totaling Over $1.1 Million Dollars. Has the curve flatten in my town? POGOs analysis of the first full years worth of Paycheck Protection Program fraud cases found that in at least: Some of these cases involve multiple defendants. Name Jobs Reported Current Loan Loan Forgiveness; Amount ($) Date Approved Amount ($) Date; CONQUEST COMPLETION SERVICES, LLC: 129: 6,940,800: July 30, 2020: 7,069,157 All totaled, in one larger case, the zip code in the program! 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