A Georgia attorney and former City of Atlanta police officer was sentenced Friday to seven years and three months in prison for conspiring to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of approximately $15 million.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Shelitha Robertson, 62, of Atlanta, conspired with Chandra Norton to submit fraudulent PPP loan applications for businesses they each owned.
The fraudulent applications falsely inflated the number of employees and average monthly payroll for each business and included false supporting tax documentation, resulting in larger PPP loans than Robertson or Norton could legitimately obtain.
Robertson and Norton submitted fraudulent applications for four businesses Robertson owned, which resulted in $7 million in PPP funds being deposited into bank accounts she controlled.
Robertson then used the loan proceeds for personal benefits, including purchasing luxury items such as a 10-carat diamond ring and transferring funds to family members and Norton.
Trial Attorney Ariel Glasner of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernita Malloy for the Northern District of Georgia prosecuted the case.