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She Filed PPP Loans for People Who Didn't Qualify, Then Took a 20-to-30 Percent Cut

Lisa Evans, 43, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for a scheme that took more than $5 million from the Paycheck Protection Program by filing loan applications for people who did not qualify for them.1

Pandemic Darlings · Published

Evans submitted fraudulent PPP applications on behalf of numerous individuals who were not entitled to the loans, according to information presented in court. The applications contained false representations, including fake federal tax documents. When those borrowers received their PPP funds, they kicked back 20 to 30 percent of the money to Evans. The loss to the program was $5,126,258, prosecutors said.1

Evans first appeared in the record in December 2022, when a federal grand jury in Memphis indicted her, then described as the owner of USA Taxes in Memphis, alongside Kevin Shaw, owner of Freight Masters. The indictment alleged that Evans supplied fake IRS documents for a PPP application for Shaw's company and took a kickback after Shaw received $786,202.2 She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on February 20, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker.3 The releases do not say whether that plea also resolved the 2022 indictment.

Judge Parker sentenced Evans on September 11, 2025, to 18 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered her to pay $4,400,723 in restitution to the Small Business Administration.1

Joseph C. Murphy Jr., interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence. The case was investigated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the SBA Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Secret Service's Memphis Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony R. Arvin prosecuted it.1

Documents cited

Notes

  1. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, "Olive Branch Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Defrauding COVID-19 Relief Program of Over $5,000,000" (original), September 16, 2025. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
  2. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, "Two Memphis Business Owners Charged in Pandemic Relief Fraud" (original), December 9, 2022. ↩
  3. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, "Mississippi Woman Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud COVID-19 Relief Program of Over $5,000,000" (original), February 21, 2025. ↩
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