Texas Resident Sentenced for Cares Act Fraud

NEW ORLEANS – BRIA PETERS, age 28, a resident of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 5 five years probation on January 17, 2024 by U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle after previously pleading guilty to making false statements related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

On March 27, 2020, The CARES Act established several new temporary programs and provided for the expansion of others to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these programs, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) authorized forgivable loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to small businesses to retain workers and maintain payroll, make mortgage interest payments, lease payments, and utility payments. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if the business spends the loan proceeds on these expense items within a designated period of time after receiving the proceeds and uses at least a certain percentage of the PPP loan proceeds on payroll expenses.

According to the court documents, PETERS made false statements to an approved lender on or about May 27, 2021, for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining a PPP loan.  Consequently, PETERS later received a PPP loan totaling approximately $29,166.00.  PETERS stated in her PPP application that in 2020, she owned a clothing business impacted by the pandemic when, in truth, she had no such business.

In addition to 5 years probation, PETERS was ordered to pay $55,141 in restitution  and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee .

For more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General – Criminal Investigations, in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit was in charge of the prosecution.