2020 Louisiana Individual Income Tax returns and payments are due Monday, May 17, 2021. The three Economic Injury Disaster loans Greenberg obtained should have triggered red flags galore. The cash injection and potentially forgivable loans were . Copyright 2020 WAFB. Many believe a high percentage of these grants were stolen, but some federal prosecutors with heavy caseloads may find it hard to justify The PPP was developed to ease the pain of COVID-19 economic restraints on working Americans. $56,095 AVERAGE PPP LOAN. A lock ( The loans have to be repaid with low interest. In a nod to changes that have improved oversight, William Shear, the Government Accountability Offices director of financial markets and community investment, testified on March 25 that, Although SBA has taken some steps to mitigate fraud risks to PPP and EIDL, such as conducting PPP loan reviews and implementing new EIDL controls, the agency has not yet conducted a formal fraud risk assessment for either program. The Small Business Administration last month agreed to conduct such a risk assessment. In less than six months, more than 50 people have been charged with allegedly committing fraud in connection with the program. (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. One case involved applications for hundreds of allegedly fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster loans and at least a $1.3 million loss to the federal government. Theyre not checking licenses. Grossman told POGO, we expect a lot more civil enforcement.. are moving. 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. An internal analysis last fall by the Small Business Administration identified over 2 million approved PPP loan guarantees worth some $189 billion that were potentially not in compliance with the law, though it may turn out that many of those loans were not fraudulent. 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. For instance, in one larger case, the Justice Department has charged 19 individuals to date. They often involve obtaining and then piecing together often-complex financial, payroll, and tax records for individuals and companies, and sifting through other evidence. Rabbitt noted the unparalleled speed with which these cases have been investigated and prosecuted.. 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. ), My guess is when were all said and done, [the fraud rate is] going to be significantly higher than 5% in the case of the CARES Act.. 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. He allegedly sought to obtain a total of more than $1.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans, at least $937,000 of which he successfully obtained. 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 For media inquiries, contact: AGs Office announces more than 50 arrests connected to Paycheck Protection Program fraud. DAVID RAINES COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER, INC. Click on a company's name to see additional loan details. And this is not the only case. 217,332 TOTAL PPP LOANS. 2020 Louisiana Individual Income Tax returns and payments are due Monday, May 17, 2021. The rebates, funded by the CARES Act, are subject to Louisiana state income tax. 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 With more time, we might have been able to implement some preemptive fraud measures, but we knew there would be some fraud, 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. 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. PPP Loans in Raceland, LA - Page 13. Public Service Announcement on Sexual Assault in Public Housing. Dr. James Hobley: When should you be screened for colon cancer? The Justice Department has brought criminal charges against at least 209 individuals in 119 cases related to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud since banks and other lenders began processing loan applications on behalf of the Small Business Administration on April 3, 2020. 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. Small Business Administration management flagged loans for at least one of 35 reasons, such as the recipient was created after the cutoff date of February 15, 2020, or the recipients owner had a criminal record, potentially rendering the recipient ineligible. The Federal Trade Commission wrote in February that, Last year, we received 99,650 reports of fraud involving business or personal loans, compared with 43,920 reports in 2019, before the pandemic began. EVERY prepared and submitted false and fraudulent PPP sole proprietor loan applications via various online portals including, but not limited, to Blueacorn. 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. 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. BATON ROUGE, La. | In certified submissions to the federal government, the familys ministry claimed a substantial operation with 486 employees, a monthly payroll of over $2.76 million, and revenue exceeding $51 million in 2019. Theres a lot of red flags that they look at in the data to help us determine if its something we need to look at deeper.. The largest loan paid out was $20,833. The Paycheck Protection Program saved millions of jobs. woman indicted for preparing 110 fraudulent PPP loans. Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, (CARES II), individuals began receiving automatically a second round of Economic Impact Payments of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples and up to $600 for each qualifying child beginning in December. 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. (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.) 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.. 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. As former federal prosecutor Tarek Helou told the Wall Street Journal, The scandal is whats legal, not whats illegal., Lenders may also be more likely to face civil enforcement than criminal enforcement. [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation. EVERY charged $45.00 to $120.00 from the individuals she recruited to prepare and submit the fraudulent PPP application. It was this difficult road that we had about a week, but our bankers got it done and, and our businesswomen and businessmen stepped up to the plate and took advantage of it, said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. 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. Copyright 2020 WAFB. Allegedly, the family sought, ultimately unsuccessfully, to use the funds to purchase a $3.7 million mansion in Disney Worlds Golden Oak gated community. For more information on the Departments response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. We dont have the capacity to work everything that comes in, Grossman told POGO. 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. AGs Office announces more than 50 arrests connected to Paycheck Protection Program fraud, LSU WR Malik Nabers arrested in New Orleans; prosecutors refuse to charge with condition, Mini workshop to bust myths surrounding sexual health, Experts give tips to prepare for daylight saving time, Health Minute: First at-home flu and COVID test authorized. Additionally, CARES II provides up to $300 in weekly supplemental unemployment benefits. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. But because the Department of Justice has made PPP and EIDL a priority we are seeing results from DOJ rather quickly in a lot of our investigations., Others in government have also remarked on how fast many of these cases 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). Filed under investigation Two people were approved for that amount twice, and one of those people got paid twice. There is abundant evidence that there was too little upfront vetting of loan applications in both the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. 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.. Help us crowdsource fraud detection in the PPP program! Whether bad faith was involved is another matter. Yet if there is sufficient evidence, the government can still seize stolen money even in the absence of criminal charges. The Department of Justice says in Feb. 2021, Gray created a scheme to defraud a lender and the United States, through the Small Business Administration, by filing false applications for PPP. (He also applied for a separate loan just days before being indicted.) It Got a PPP Loan. of Loans Jobs Retained POGO was unable to reach Edwards before publication. 61000. Federal investigators cannot comment on active investigations or give an estimate on how much fraud may have occurred through federal pandemic relief programs, but a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Middle District of Louisiana confirms there were fraudulent applications submitted in Louisiana through several relief programs including the PPP. Many Paycheck Protection Program loans appear to have been issued to recipients who were not eligible under the programs rules. 3 Defendants Arrested For Over $13 Million Fraud Scheme To Obtain Loans Intended To Help Small Businesses During COVID-19 Pandemic 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 Saintvils attorney declined to comment. To me, its like looting after a hurricane. 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. Complaints can also be filed online here. 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. 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.. 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). Brian Grossman, the Small Business Administrations assistant inspector general for investigations, told POGO that as of March 10, 2021, the watchdog office had 91 active Paycheck Protection Program investigations and 121 active Economic Injury Disaster loan investigations. 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. The Department of Justice confirms they are looking into reports of PPP fraud across the nation. 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. Inaccuracies in the data or missing data can undermine oversight. 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. This is your state and county equivalent level look at how many have gotten a dose or doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Using a telemarketing scheme called My Buddy Loans, the telemarketing scheme exploited those seeking assistance during the COVID pandemic, including many who were over the age of 55, according to a Small Business Administration inspector general agent quoted in a Justice Department press release. Unfortunately, the owners of Victoria Nails & Spa saw this program as their own personal piggy bank. 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 PPP loan forgiveness, Fairs, Festivals, and Other Special Events, The Importance of Protecting Client Tax Information, 2022 Practitioner Tax Update Seminar Schedule, Update PPP Loan Recipient List By State . (Eligible companies and nonprofit organizations can apply for and receive both Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loans.). You know, is it something that they should have done? 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