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BOSTON – A Massachusetts businessman pleaded guilty yesterday to misappropriating COVID-19 relief funds for personal use.

Kaymeisha Keyes, 33, of Tracy, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to nine years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a scheme to defraud the unemployment insurance benefit program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sanjay Patel, an attorney who formerly operated a Georgia-based real estate law firm, has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining nearly $300,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to using his attorney escrow account to launder more than $250,000 from unrelated investor fraud schemes.

Juashayla Walls sought loans during the COVID-19 pandemic for a fake company called the “Barbie Factory.”

U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Nina M. Williams, 56, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge William, M. Skretny to wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Tacoma – The second of two Nigerian men residing in Canada pleaded guilty Thursday September 12, 2024, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his fraud scheme that stole more than $1.3 million in federal funds, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging John L. Hutchins, 70, of Lewiston, NY, and Roberto Soliman, 40, of Niagara Falls, NY, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud. In addition, defendant Hutchins is charged with making a false statement and defendant Soliman is charged with engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Law enforcement officials today arrested six Orange County residents charged in three indictments alleging, among other crimes, they stole identities to defraud California’s unemployment insurance (UI) system and to fraudulently apply for lines of credit from a lender, using the identity theft victims’ homes as collateral.