Kindambu applied for two Paycheck Protection Program loans representing Papillon Holdings, Inc. and Papillon Air, Inc., according to court documents. Sen. John Kennedy says in the rush to get help to people in need as quickly as possible, Congress didnt have time to build many safeguards against fraud into the program. Act 12 of the 2020 First Extraordinary Session of the Louisiana Legislature provided for a one-time $250 rebate for eligible workers earning $50,000 per year or less, who spent at least 200 hours responding to or mitigating the COVID-19 crisis from March 22, 2020, through May 14, 2020. Former La. And this is not the only case. 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. EVERY then charged approximately $3,500.00 once the loans were funded. From at least in or about April 2020 through at least in or about June 2020, NGUYEN, VICTORIA HO, and DAT HO engaged in a scheme to submit online applications to at least two financial institutions for a total of over $13 million in government-guaranteed loans for the Victoria Companies through the SBAs PPP. Lawmaker wants police trained to handle Alzheimers, dementia patients, Health Minute: First at-home flu and COVID test authorized. The CARES Act provided $600 weekly supplemental unemployment benefits for individuals out of work for reasons related to the pandemic. 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. According to the SBA, lenders are responsible for vetting applications and making sure the applicant is telling the truth in whatever way they see fit. louisiana ppp loan arrestsanxiety support groups columbia, sc Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation fidelity express money order refund thamani ya rupia ya mjerumani This case was brought in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 111 instances, the zip code in the Small Business Administrations data did not match the state provided. All rights reserved. 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. According to the allegations contained in the Complaint[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It soon became apparent that the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs setup also made it particularly susceptible to fraud. 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. criminally charging someone for stealing $10,000 or less. A check of Floridas Division of Corporations database would have revealed the companies had just been reinstated. 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. But it may be far greater than the fraud rate seen in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Small Business Administration has released a list of businesses that have received emergency pandemic loans. The Small Business Administration has released a list of businesses that have received emergency pandemic loans.. On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Department of Justice confirms they are looking into reports of PPP fraud across the nation. According to the MITRE Corporation, a mismatched zip code or insufficient award description doesnt seem particularly egregious. $350K-$1M loan to BENOIT WELDING, INC. BENOIT WELDING, INC. $150K-$350K loan to THE DELAHOUSSAYE CO., INC. Louisiana has a total of 217,332 businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the Small Business Administration. The agencys Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Brian Grossman told POGO that not all of the referrals relate to the COVID-19 relief lending programs, but many of them do.. 9,060 loans. The program began issuing loans again in January 2021, and some businesses are eligible for a second loan. 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. The DOJ says this ill-gotten money was in many cases used to buy luxury personal items like cars, homes, vacation trips, and jewelry. Greenberg is a friend of Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, and both were identified in a recent New York Times report as having allegedly paid women for sex, as well as potentially a 17-year-old girl. Not all the blame can be placed at the Small Business Administrations feet. (The latest round, which began in January, allowed some applicants to receive a second Paycheck Protection Program loan. Whistleblowers Said This Company Is a Fake Small Business. judy norton children; court ordered community service california Click on a company's name to see additional loan details. 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. UNION VETERINARY CLINIC, INC. 65780. For more information on the Departments response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. of Loans Jobs Retained 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). In July, the agencys inspector general warned of potentially rampant fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. 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. Gibsland Bank & Trust Company. With over 18 million Paycheck Protection Program loans and pandemic-related Economic Injury Disaster loans and advance grants approved over the last year, there is a sea of data on these programs. In one of the most complex cases to emerge since POGOs original analysis, at least seven individuals were indicted in a scheme that allegedly involved over 80 applications seeking a total of $30 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. More due diligence on the part of lenders or the Small Business Administration could have prevented at least some instances of fraud. At the request of WAFB, the Louisiana Board of Barber Examiners also searched their apprentice, student, barber, and shop records for those eight names and addresses, and came up empty as well. Find out how you can get involved and stay up to date with our work. 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. You have to understand from the lenders perspective, really, theyre just looking at income. An Archdale man was arrested after authorities say he falsely received more than $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief money through the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP was developed to ease the pain of COVID-19 economic restraints on working Americans. 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. The case against EVERY began as a result of a referral from the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) regarding possible fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans (PPP). 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. Each loan paid out was guaranteed using taxpayer money. 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. 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. 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. When the bank froze the funds, they froze as well, conducting Internet searches for topics related to PPP fraud. With more time, we might have been able to implement some preemptive fraud measures, but we knew there would be some fraud, said Kennedy. I dont know why it is that that some people take advantage of a program like this in a time of crisis. mike vernon royal household; are there snakes in gran canaria; shooting in laurel, md yesterday. 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. According to a court filing signed by a Secret Service agent, a family of four was behind a scheme My directive to SBA and to the Department of Justice will be to work with our state attorneys general, work with local DHS, work with local sheriffs, and make sure people understand if you steal money, these are these are finite resources, said Kennedy. The number of potentially questionable loans approved through these programs is vast, as will be the task of determining how many of those loans were fraudulent or otherwise improper. After the defendants learned that a hold was placed on bank accounts of the Victoria Companies that received PPP loans issued by one financial institution due to suspicion of fraudulent activity, one of the defendants conducted Internet searches for PPP Fraud, PPP Loan Fraud Arrests, and How to get rid of a PPP Loan. The defendants thereafter withdrew the applications for and/or repaid the PPP loans for the Victoria Companies issued by that financial institution. 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 oversight failures of the last year have become increasingly clear, eventually leading to changes. If you look at the last round [of PPP] and you look at it on a time series, it almost looks like the largest businesses and businesses in high-income neighborhoods received money first and smaller businesses and businesses in low-income neighborhoods received money last, the Small Business Administrations Michael Roth told Politico in March. Government Accountability Office revealed, according to Shear of the Government Accountability Office, the Justice Department unveiled new charges, Greenberg bribed an unnamed Small Business Administration insider, according to the Government Accountability Office, 5.8 million advance grants worth $20 billion, underutilized Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), first settlement in a Paycheck Protection Program civil enforcement case, remarks before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, revamped the Paycheck Protection Program loan application, for the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, Lamborghinis, Strip Clubs, Bogus Companies, and Lies, Spike in Suspected Business Loan Fraud Reports Coincided with Paycheck Protection Program, How a Ukrainian Oligarchs Companies Got Paycheck Protection Program Loans. Lenders approved that amount for eight people, seven of whom got checks. More than half of that amount$246 millionactually went to accused fraudsters. To disguise the fraud, family members moved the proceeds through several bank accounts held in different names, according to the Justice Department. 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. Its up to the SBA and the Justice Department to go after anyone caught stealing PPP money. The nonprofit MITRE Corporation found more than 85% of Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients did not indicate their race or ethnicity in their loan applications, Earlier this year, the Biden administration revamped the Paycheck Protection Program loan application to encourage self-reporting of demographic data and better illustrate the impact the PPP is having across various population segments. But the Small Business Administration acknowledged, as of late March, there is still limited demographic data on PPP borrowers.. Shes accused of making up fake businesses to collect more than $20,000 through a PPP loan and another $500,000 in prepaid debit cards through unemployment claims. EVERY advertised under various aliases on Facebook to recruit individuals to obtain money from the PPP program. 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