{"id":57829,"date":"2024-10-24T19:27:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T02:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57829"},"modified":"2024-10-24T19:27:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T02:27:06","slug":"two-women-arrested-for-an-alleged-3-5-million-scheme-to-defraud-covid-19-business-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57829","title":{"rendered":"Two Women Arrested for an Alleged $3.5 Million Scheme to Defraud COVID-19 Business Loan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0RIVERSIDE, California\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lady<\/p>\n

Two Riverside County women were arrested Thursday on a 23-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they and two men schemed to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program out of more than $3 million by helping others fraudulently obtain COVID business loans in exchange for a cut of the illicit proceeds, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vanessa M. Williams, 35, of Corona,\u00a0<\/b>and Denise Mata, 34, of Moreno Valley, were arrested Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams and Mata are charged with nine and 10 counts of wire fraud, respectively. Mata is charged with an additional count of aggravated identity theft. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also charged in the indictment are Daryl D. Knighten Jr., 32, and Mikhail G. Hoalim, 33, who face seven and nine counts of wire fraud, respectively. Law enforcement continues to search for both men.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the indictment that a grand jury returned on August 14, from March 2021 to August 2021, the defendants submitted and caused to be submitted fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for themselves, family members, close associates, and individuals they recruited. <\/span><\/p>\n

Congress created the program in 2020 to assist businesses dealing with COVID-19\u2019s severe economic impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants made false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and banks in connection with the fraudulent PPP loan applications. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each application falsely stated that the PPP loan applicant was self-employed and falsely certified that each loan would be used for permissible business purposes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each loan application also contained fraudulent tax forms to deceive the SBA and PPP participating lenders into disbursing loan funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lenders approved PPP loans for the defendants and more than 100 co-schemers. The lenders then disbursed the PPP loan funds into bank accounts belonging to the defendants and their co-schemers. Co-schemers paid kickbacks to the defendants within days of receiving the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants and their co-schemers used the illicitly obtained money for their own personal benefit and not for expenses allowable under the PPP. The defendants also submitted fraudulent documents to the SBA and lenders to obtain loan forgiveness for the illegally obtained PPP loans.<\/span><\/p>\n

In March 2021, Mata allegedly used another person’s Social Security numbers without that person\u2019s permission in connection with the scheme to defraud the PPP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Law enforcement believes the losses caused by this scheme are approximately $3.5 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/span><\/p>\n

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mata would face an additional mandatory two-year prison sentence consecutive to any other prison term if convicted of aggravated identity theft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Max A. Shapiro of the General Crimes Section, Senior Litigation Counsel Gary Bell, and Trial Attorney Ambris Saravanan from the Department of Justice\u2019s Antitrust Division are prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice\u2019s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at\u00a0https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/disaster-fraud\/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0RIVERSIDE, California\u00a0 Two Riverside County women were arrested Thursday on a 23-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they and two men schemed to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program out of more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Women Arrested for an Alleged $3.5 Million Scheme to Defraud COVID-19 Business Loan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0RIVERSIDE, California\u00a0 Two Riverside County women were arrested Thursday on a 23-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they and two men\" \/>\n<meta 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