Clermont County woman sentenced to more than 4 years in prison for COVID-19 relief fraud

CINCINNATI – Kasey Hamer, 37, of Batavia, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 55 months in prison for pandemic relief fraud.

As part of her sentence, Hamer was ordered to pay more than $185,000 in restitution.

According to court documents, Hamer orchestrated a scheme to defraud several programs administered by the Small Business Administration designed to provide COVID-19 relief.

Hamer purported to assist family members and friends to apply for several CARES Act loans. Using the names, social security numbers and other identifiers of others, Hamer significantly overstated the gross revenues, monthly payroll, and/or number of employees for the businesses filed. Hamer then controlled disbursements of the loan funds that were issued to family and friends.

For example, in June 2020, Hamer falsely claimed that a relative ran an event planning business that generated gross revenues of nearly $105,000 and employed 15 people. Hamer knew this information was false.

Hamer also filed numerous fraudulent loan applications in her own name. For example, in one application, Hamer falsely claimed to make over $8,000 per month as a marketer. 

In total, Hamer and her associates requested more than $1 million in relief loans and received more than $150,000 in SBA program funds. Hamer used the funds she received for purchases at restaurants and retail stores, online gambling and gambling.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the sentence imposed June 7 by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas R. Cole. The case was investigated by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Ebunoluwa A. Taiwo represented the United States in this case.

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