Reports

ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke woman, who conspired with dozens of other individuals to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program, pled guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

ATLANTA – Jerry Baptiste, the last of 20 defendants charged in a wide-ranging criminal scheme to steal Paycheck Protection Program funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been sentenced for his role in the scheme.

BOSTON – An Easton man was charged yesterday in a superseding indictment for allegedly using Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds to secretly purchase a home in the name of a close relative.

NEWARK N.J. – A Sussex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 36 months in prison for defrauding several financial institutions and illegally obtaining more than $2 million in COVID-19 funding meant to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic.

A former bank branch manager in Kansas City, Mo., has pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting Kansas City Chiefs playoffs tickets and a new Chevrolet Tahoe in exchange for facilitating a $12.4 million Covid fraud scheme by a Jefferson City, Mo., business owner, as well as a separate fraud scheme to receive unemployment benefits.

U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Michael Rech, 52, of North Chili, NY, who was convicted at trial of 37 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.

A federal grand jury has charged a doctor who operated clinics in Westminster and Garden Grove with defrauding a COVID-19 program for uninsured patients by submitting more than a quarter billion dollars in claims – ultimately receiving about $150 million in payments – for services not covered under the program or simply not provided.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, Albert Childress, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Francisco B. Burrola, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, announced today that Jacqueline Rascon-Chacon, Bryan Gardea, and Ricardo Landeros were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

ANTRUM COSTON, 41, of New Haven, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 37 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for fraud, money laundering, and drug offenses.