Reports

A California man pleaded guilty yesterday to securities fraud, wire fraud, and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with his scheme to defraud investors by making false and misleading statements about the purported development of a new, blood-based COVID-19 test, leading to millions of dollars in investor losses.

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

A Houston area brother and sister have been indicted for submitting fraudulent COVID-19 relief loans

Ronald House, who applied for unemployment insurance in his name and the names of others in multiple states during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge.

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard today sentenced Kenneth Steven Landers (57, Jacksonville) to one year and one day in federal prison for wire fraud and engaging in an illegal monetary transaction. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $910,000, the proceeds of his wire fraud scheme, and also ordered him to pay full restitution to his victims. Landers had pleaded guilty on February 14, 2023.

Federal inmates Jason Haddox, age 40, and Jonathan Henry, age 32, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and Henry also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.