COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus man has pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to roughly $440,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 relief loans obtained using stolen identities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced Tuesday.
Pierre-Maurice D. Harris, 36, entered his guilty plea in July on charges of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. Harris was stopped by the Transportation Security Administration while traveling to Miami and found carrying $25,000 in cash and seven debit cards issued in other people’s names, the release said. Investigators say they traced the cash and cards to a scheme involving fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans, pandemic unemployment assistance claims filed in both Ohio and California, and Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds, all connected to stolen identities.
Mail and wire fraud conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence that must be served consecutively, and money laundering carries a maximum of 20 years, according to the release. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The guilty plea was announced as part of a two-month nationwide enforcement surge led by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, the Small Business Administration and the SBA’s Office of Inspector General targeting fraud in the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program. Federal prosecutors across the country brought enforcement actions from June 12 to Sept. 1 against more than 160 criminal defendants, including about 80 newly charged, reaching approximately $245 million in intended losses to taxpayers, according to the release.
“The case we are announcing today as part of this nationwide surge is now the second pandemic loan relief fraud case that we have announced this summer,” Gerace said in a statement. “Our district, in conjunction with the National Fraud Enforcement Division and our federal and state investigative partners, remains resolute in its determination to fight all forms of taxpayer-funded fraud.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that defendants charged during the summer surge “allegedly fabricated businesses, submitted false payroll and revenue claims, stole identities, and concealed foreign ties on their applications” and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the broader effort has identified 870,000 suspended borrowers tied to $39 billion in suspected fraudulent PPP and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan activity nationwide, with demand letters going out to suspected fraudsters.
In June, the Southern District of Ohio announced charges against four defendants in a separate conspiracy accused of defrauding the government out of more than $1.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds, according to the release. The National Fraud Enforcement Division was created April 7 to investigate and prosecute fraud against federal relief programs as part of a White House task force to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs.
Suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
