Allegedly, the family sought, ultimately unsuccessfully, to use the funds to purchase a $3.7 million mansion in Disney Worlds Golden Oak gated community. 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. Maurice Kamgaing, 41 sent PPP loan . Civil enforcementwhere the evidentiary burden is lower than in criminal casesis another way of holding individuals and companies accountable. Both laws have provisions allowing whistleblowers to receive a reward for successful recoveries obtained for the U.S. government. The PPP loan was created through the March 2020 CARES Act as a lifeline for businesses struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. Many believe a high percentage of these grants were stolen, but some federal prosecutors with heavy caseloads may find it hard to justify The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) is in Baton Rouge and reports can be filed here. 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. To disguise the fraud, family members moved the proceeds through several bank accounts held in different names, according to the Justice Department. portville central school yearbooks; jennette mccurdy astroseek. (He also applied for a separate loan just days before being indicted.) The Small Business Administration has released a list of businesses that have received emergency pandemic loans.. There were additional steps that could have been undertaken that would not have significantly slowed downin our view in the oversight communitythe delivery of funds to the public, said Michael Horowitz, the Justice Departments inspector general and chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, in testimony before Congress on March 25. Whistleblowers Said This Company Is a Fake Small Business. SBA has fired employees and contractors who were involved in approving loans to themselves or who inappropriately influenced loan approval. 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.. Since last October, when POGO published a report examining trends in Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud at the programs six-month mark, several eye-popping cases of alleged fraud have emerged. PPP loan information is available to the public through the SBA, and several groups have even published that information in the form of online searchable databases that anyone can use. Nick Schwellenbach is a Senior Investigator at POGO. Jean Rabbittand Kevin Aguilarwere charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to engage in monetary transaction charges. 2020 Louisiana Individual Income Tax returns and payments are due Monday, May 17, 2021. 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. 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. Louisiana has a total of 217,332 businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the Small Business Administration. Based on the data, between $5,589,989,154 and $10,528,439,154 have been loaned through the Payroll Protection Program to businesses in Louisiana. Find out how you can get involved and stay up to date with our work. Law enforcement insiders say many more pandemic loan fraud cases will be brought in the months and years ahead. This is your state and county equivalent level look at how many have gotten a dose or doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. OIG and its law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue fraudsters and bring them to justice. Theyre not checking licenses. 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. A check of Floridas Division of Corporations database would have revealed the companies had just been reinstated. 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. 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. The cash injection and potentially forgivable loans were . EVERY advertised under various aliases on Facebook to recruit individuals to obtain money from the PPP program. In less than six months, more than 50 people have been charged with allegedly committing fraud in connection with the program. 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. Public Information Director The line is staffed 24/7. They allegedly exploited a program designed to provide vital funding for small businesses that are legitimately struggling in the midst of the pandemic. POGO has sought additional data from the Small Business Administration, and to improve data collection. 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. Aqeel used some of the proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini sports car, according to the Justice Department. 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. Dr. James Hobley: When should you be screened for colon cancer? That watchdog office has recommended that the agency use data analysis as a means to detect potentially ineligible and fraudulent applications.. Linda Miller, the deputy executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, told Federal News Radio in September, 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. If it is just 5% of the combined $957 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster loans and advance grants, that would still be about $48 billion in fraud. Thats more than 10 times the fraud recoveries five years after the 2009 stimulus became law. The oversight failures of the last year have become increasingly clear, eventually leading to changes. 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. In Louisiana, a federal grand jury recently indicted a Plaquemine woman named Lestreonia Rodrigue on fraud charges. BATON ROUGE, La. 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. If youre going to steal money, finite resources from people who need them, then, by God, were going to prosecute you.. Other government agencies also submit referrals of potential fraud to the office of inspector general, and suspicious activity reports come in through the financial industry by way of the Treasury Department. Nick Schwellenbach Babysitter arrested after 5-year-old fatally shot by 6-year-old cousin. Copyright 2020 WAFB. Some investigations begin with complaints received through the watchdogs hotline, and others come from referrals by federal agencies or state and local law enforcement. As part of its own COVID-19 relief spending tracker Click on a company's name to see additional loan details. In addition to helping head off further fraud, conducting robust data analysis could also help the Small Business Administration assess how well its relief programs are reaching small businesses in underserved communities, such as those owned by people of color. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael C. McGinnis and Sagar K. Ravi are in charge of the prosecution. The SBA now also conducts manual loan reviews for the largest loans in the PPP portfolio and a random sampling of other loans. Underscoring the tension between fraud prevention and disbursing assistance quickly, the added checks to verify information submitted by applicants have somewhat slowed the processing of loan applications. 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. For instance, the department may decline cases involving smaller-dollar amounts, especially in busier U.S. attorneys offices around the country, Grossman said. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS 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. 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). Based on the fraudulent PPP loan applications submitted by NGUYEN, VICTORIA HO, and DAT HO, a total of more than $13 million in PPP loans were approved for the Victoria Companies and approximately $7.8 million in loan proceeds were disbursed into bank accounts controlled by NGUYEN, DAT HO, and other family members. Inaccuracies in the data or missing data can undermine oversight. 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. 66625. 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. Ryan Summers The only way you can reverse those things is by understanding the metrics behind it and to have real goals around them.. 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. 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. (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. To support his loan applications, Kindambu claimed that Papillon Holdings had $150,000 in monthly payroll expenses and that Papillon Air had over $850,000 in monthly payroll expenses. 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. PPP Loan Recipient List By State . This March, the Government Accountability Office added the Small Business Administrations emergency loan programs for small businesses to its biennial high-risk list of executive branch programs vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or that need transformation.. For more information on the Department of Justices response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. First Home Bank approved the $8.4 million loan, among the less than 0.1% of Paycheck Protection Program loans this large or larger (the maximum is $10 million). An official website of the United States government. 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. While the multi-million dollar PPP loan scam cases get the national headlines, federal prosecutors are going after PPP loan fraud in all amounts. Who in Louisiana got Paycheck Protection Program loans during the pandemic? Showing 50 of 9,060 results. Mr. Aqeel asserts his presumption of innocence and demands the United States prove their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. Mingledorff also said, The case is in the pretrial phase of litigation. Allegedly misrepresenting the number of employees on their payroll to obtain the funding, they deposited this money into accounts controlled solely by them. 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. Click here for information on the investigation into the Mount Vernon Police Department. 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. 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. [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. A lock ( If the borrower can prove they used the money to pay employees and eligible expenses, they can ask the SBA for loan forgiveness. 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. I urge anyone who believes he or she is a victim of this type of fraud to report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud," said US Attorney Brandon Fremin. Its the first public case of fraud in these pandemic loan programs attributed to corruption within the agencys own ranks. 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. At $367 billion, the amount of disaster funds provided through the EIDL COVID program is more than three times the amount of disaster loan funds approved for all disasters combined since the SBA was created in 1953, wrote Jovita Carranza, then-head of the Small Business Administration, in December 2020. What happens when the watchdog tasked with overseeing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country doesnt do its job? 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.. All rights reserved. | Between May and October 2020, financial institutions filed more than 21,000 and 20,000 suspicious activity reports (SAR) related to PPP and EIDL, respectively, according to the Government Accountability Office. woman indicted for preparing 110 fraudulent PPP loans. As of this month, weve seized over $580 million from over 23,000 fraudulent EIDL loans.. For more information on the Departments response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Senator Kennedy admits the program may have had some holes in it, due to how quickly it was rolled out, and the loan program has been updated many times to expand eligibility. 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. But such gaps can create ambiguities that muddy the waters in overseeing spending., Still, much can be done with the data that does exist. One case involves Dinesh Sah, a Dallas-area man, who obtained $17.3 million after having sought a $24.8 million loan. Louisiana PPP loan fraud cases may be initiated by employees of banks who disperse PPP funds in Louisiana, employees of companies who have received CARES Act aid in Louisiana, or any other individual who has inside information on a PPP loan fraud case originating in Louisiana. The defendants were arrested this morning. And these cases are just the beginning. About one year after the passage of the CARES Act, $626 million in funds have already been seized or forfeited related to criminal and civil investigations of pandemic loan fraud. (WAFB) - The Paycheck Protection Program, known as PPP, provided a lifeline for millions of business owners when the pandemic was at its worst. Thats because, at least in part, its optional for loan applicants to supply that information. Use our searchable database to see who in Louisiana received funds. 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. Help us crowdsource fraud detection in the PPP program! Otherwise, the borrower is on the hook for the money. *** For media inquiries, contact: 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. So now, he says agencies must go after anyone who might be taking money theyre not entitled to. (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. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Lawmaker wants police trained to handle Alzheimers, dementia patients, Health Minute: First at-home flu and COVID test authorized. SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA LANDSCAPING LLC. Have a question about Government Services? As the lending programs ramped up last summer, there was a spike in suspicious activity reports from banks and other lenders flagging potential fraud. to fraudulently obtain the loan money. 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. Been loaned through the Payroll Protection program ( louisiana ppp loan arrests ) loans from the Small Business Administration,! 217,332 businesses that received Paycheck Protection program loans during the pandemic pandemic loans Administration and. 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