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. As of this month, weve seized over $580 million from over 23,000 fraudulent EIDL loans., Weve got a process in place that once weve identified, for instance, a bank account that has money sitting in it, that was deposited through a fraudulent EIDL loan, we contact the Secret Service, and they have a method to go in and seize those funds, Grossman said. All totaled, in that city of 43,000 people lenders approved $1.3 million dollars just for barbershop owners. $350K-$1M loan to BENOIT WELDING, INC. BENOIT WELDING, INC. $150K-$350K loan to THE DELAHOUSSAYE CO., INC. Summary of PPP Loans in Louisiana. Complaints can also be filed online here. BATON ROUGE, La. Louisiana Department of Revenue Identity Theft Affidavit, Louisiana Workforce Commission Suspected Fraud Form. Eastern District of Louisiana In Louisiana, a federal grand jury recently indicted a Plaquemine woman named Lestreonia Rodrigue on fraud charges. Created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Paycheck Protection Program has lent out $755 billion to businesses as of April 11. SOUTHERN CLASSIC OF FARMERVILLE LLC. Faa sua busca no site. It soon became apparent that the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs setup also made it particularly susceptible to fraud. to give the federal government time to investigate and evaluate the complaint before it becomes public. You know, is it something that they should have done? Search arrest records and find latests mugshots and bookings for Misdemeanors and Felonies. Even if the debt is cleared, the loans can end up wreaking havoc on individuals and businesses credit scores. Byron.Henderson@la.gov, On Friday, Feb. 12, LDR will begin accepting tax returns through, , the states free, electronic tax filing application; or through commercially available tax filing software. 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. Help us crowdsource fraud detection in the PPP program! In Louisiana, a federal grand jury recently indicted a Plaquemine woman named Lestreonia Rodrigue on fraud charges. You can search the SBA's entire PPP loan data below. Pape and Jung used more than $3600 from the fraud scheme to pay for a stay at a resort in San Antonio, Texas, according to the Justice Department. 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. On January 11, in the final days of the Trump administration, the Small Business Administration began processing a new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans. 217,332 TOTAL PPP LOANS. A borrower applied for a PPP loan from a lender or bank. Those who suspect PPP fraud or may have been a victim of such fraud should contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721. (The latest round, which began in January, allowed some applicants to receive a second Paycheck Protection Program loan. 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. The payments are refundable tax credits and are not considered taxable income for federal or state tax purposes. According to the MITRE Corporation, a mismatched zip code or insufficient award description doesnt seem particularly egregious. 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. It Got a PPP Loan. According to the Board of Barber Examiners, to legally run a barbershop, an owner must have a business license and a barber license if they are cutting hair even if that business is run out of a home. Nearly 11.5 million people filed applications, resulting in more than $792 billion worth of loans. Copyright 2020 WAFB. Find out how you can get involved and stay up to date with our work. One St. Andrews Plaza - New York, NY 10007, Three Family Members Arrested for Misrepresenting Employee Payroll Figures to Receive COVID-19 Loan Funds for Chain of Family-Owned Nail Salons in New York Metropolitan Area and Other Businesses, James Margolin, Nicholas Biase The PPP loan was created through the March 2020 CARES Act as a lifeline for businesses struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. The defendants were arrested this morning. GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTH LOUISIANA, INC. BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF NORTHWEST LOUISIANA, ROSS H DIES DDS & BENJAMIN A BEACH DDS, LLC, Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services, Other Services (except Public Administration). A check of Floridas Division of Corporations database would have revealed the companies had just been reinstated. criminally charging someone for stealing $10,000 or less. edgewater hotel haunted; can uk consultant doctors work in usa; is spitfire a compliment 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. Aqeel used some of the proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini sports car, according to the Justice Department. Has the curve flatten in my town? 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. Greenbergs insider was a loan officer who began working for the agency in May 2020. This Office was one of the districts affected by the SolarWinds intrusion. 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. That new law permitted SBA to require additional information from applicants, such as tax returns, for loans and advances as part of its verification, according to Shear of the Government Accountability Office. In order to support the false representations in the loan applications about the number of employees at, and the wages paid by, the Victoria Companies, the defendants submitted fraudulent and doctored payroll and tax records. complaint (20-mag-12908). Identity theft is probably the most common underlying cause of the fraud that were finding, particularly in the EIDL program, SBA Inspector General Hannibal Mike Ware said in testimony before Congress in late March. The PPP was developed to ease the pain of COVID-19 economic restraints on working Americans. PPP Loan Recipient List By State . Help us crowdsource fraud detection in the PPP program! Saintvils attorney declined to comment. A locked padlock We dont have the capacity to work everything that comes in, Grossman told POGO. More than 1,400 institutions had filed SARs related to PPP, and more than 900 institutions had filed SARs related to EIDL.. The line is staffed 24/7. 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. 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. Nick Schwellenbach Yet if there is sufficient evidence, the government can still seize stolen money even in the absence of criminal charges. For more information on the Department of Justices response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. BATON ROUGE, La. However, both Kennedy and Ricks say the good the program did far outweigh any possible fraud. Lock But in March 2021, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General issued a report that found that lenders last year issued more than one Paycheck Protection Program loan to 4,260 borrowers with the same tax identification number and borrowers with the same business name and address. Those loans were worth a total of $692 million. The Justice Department said law enforcement arrested defendants in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday who officials allege are involved in a "criminal ring" that attempted to steal $24 million in. In addition to allegedly submitting a fraudulent PPP loan application for a fictious [sic] business in his own name, Saintvil also allegedly stole the identities of eight elderly individualsseven of whom were residents of senior living facilities and one who was related to him, according to a Justice Department press release. The PPP loans are forgivable under certain conditions and the loan forgiveness is not taxable income for federal tax purposes. Whether bad faith was involved is another matter. On March 30, the Justice Department unveiled new charges against Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector. The PPP loans are forgivable under certain conditions and the loan forgiveness is not taxable income for federal tax purposes. For instance, in a review for the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the nonprofit MITRE Corporation examined a sample of 500 records for Paycheck Protection Program loans above $150,000. 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. 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. | When we receive complaints on PPP and EIDL fraud, we immediately coordinate with the Department of Justice, to see what their interest is in the case. 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. U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that the indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We hear reports of arrests and arraignments for PPP loan cases involving only $10,000 or $15,000. 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