Search

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty yesterday to carrying out a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $137,000 from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA), the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL).

FRANCESCO DISTEFANO and a co-defendant allegedly used fraud proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini Huracan, Maserati Ghibli, and Porsche 911.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this inspection report to determine whether data sharing between the Employment and Training Administration and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) could mitigate the risk of fraudulent unemployment insurance benefit payments and SBA disaster program disbursements. In 2020, soon after Congress expanded the Unemployment Insurance and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programs in response to the adverse economic effects caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Labor OIG and SBA OIG respectively began reporting...

Jason Toland, 44, of Wheatland, was sentenced today to two years and 11 months in prison for submitting false claims against the United States related to COVID-19 pandemic tax credits. Toland was also ordered to pay $2,078,462 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and the Small Business Administration.

On Nov. 8, a federal jury convicted Lazaro Verdecia Hernandez, 37, and Yadier Rodriguez Arteaga, 41, both of Miami, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering, in connection with a scheme to obtain fraudulent loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Verdecia was also convicted of wire fraud.

Yesterday, Daniel Fleureme, 56, of Miami-Dade County, a former Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department (MDCRD) Corrections Officer, pled guilty to wire fraud for defrauding a COVID-19 relief program by fraudulently obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA).