Reports

BOSTON – Six individuals, including three from Massachusetts, have been charged in connection with their alleged involvement in a multi-state scheme to obtain millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for themselves, and others, through the submission of dozens of fraudulent applications to PPP lenders.

Seattle – A 30-year-old New York City man was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle of three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud related to his abuse of the COVID-19 Pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Maxine Michelle Burns applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan using the name of the owner of a residential treatment facility without authorization.

An indictment accuses Shahron Vaulx of submitting nine fraudulent applications seeking a total of $649,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans.

A Riverside County woman who participated in a scheme that used stolen identities to fraudulently apply for just over $2.8 million in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern sentenced Lauren Michelle Owen, 40, of Jenks, to 27 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. In January, Owen pleaded guilty to bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. Judge Kern further ordered Owen to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.