NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans introduced that STACEY V. SANTEMORE, SR., age 46, previously of New Orleans however now a resident of Houston, Texas, was charged on March 3, 2022 in a two-count invoice of info with making false statements and theft of authorities funds associated to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
The CARES Act is a federal regulation enacted on March 29, 2020, to supply emergency monetary help in connection with financial results of the COVID-19 pandemic. One supply of reduction offered by the CARES Act was the authorization of as much as $349 billion in forgivable loans to small companies for job retention and sure different bills, by way of the PPP. The PPP permits qualifying small companies and different organizations to obtain loans with a maturity of two years and an rate of interest of 1%. PPP mortgage proceeds have to be utilized by companies on payroll prices, curiosity on mortgages, lease, and utilities. The PPP permits the curiosity and principal on the PPP mortgage to be forgiven if the enterprise spends the mortgage proceeds on these expense gadgets inside a chosen interval of time after receiving the proceeds and makes use of a minimum of a sure share of the PPP mortgage proceeds on payroll bills. In April 2020, Congress licensed over $300 billion in further PPP funding.
In addition, the CARES Act created a brief federal unemployment insurance coverage program known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) after a significant catastrophe declaration for this funding. PUA, administered by the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), offered unemployment insurance coverage advantages for people who are usually not eligible for different sorts of unemployment advantages (e.g., the self-employed, impartial contractors, or gig financial system employees).
According to the charging paperwork, SANTEMORE, in July 2020, made false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for the aim of fraudulently acquiring pandemic-related reduction loans funded by the federal authorities, together with PPP funds, which he obtained within the quantity of roughly $89,000.
SANTEMORE additionally utilized for Louisiana unemployment advantages by way of the LWC with PUA funding regardless of always being totally employed by Amtrak, the nationwide passenger railcar firm. He obtained greater than $1,000 from April 2020 by way of March 2021, and this quantities to a theft of authorities funds.
SANTEMORE faces a sentence of as much as 5 years in jail, as much as $250,000 in fines, and as much as three years of supervised launch for the false statements rely. He faces as much as ten years in jail, as much as $250,000 in fines, and as much as three years of supervised launch for the theft rely. There can be a $100 obligatory particular evaluation charge due after conviction. U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated {that a} invoice of info is merely a cost and that the guilt of the defendant have to be confirmed past an affordable doubt.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the assets of the Department of Justice in partnership with businesses throughout authorities to reinforce efforts to fight and forestall pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to research and prosecute probably the most culpable home and worldwide felony actors and assists businesses tasked with administering reduction applications to forestall fraud by, amongst different strategies, augmenting and incorporating present coordination mechanisms, figuring out assets and methods to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing info and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For extra info on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please go to https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
For extra info on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please go to https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with details about allegations of tried fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or by way of the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General – Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera is in cost of the prosecution.
* * *