Sentencing Memorandum by United States of America — United States v. Sutton et al. (Dkt. 415, S.D. W. Va.)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia · No. 2:24-cr-00192 · Doc. 415 · 2025-11-18 · Docket on CourtListener

Full text

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA 
CHARLESTON 
 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CRIMINAL NO. 2:24-CR-00192-1 
 
 
KISHA SUTTON 
 
 
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM 
 
Comes now the United States of America, by Jonathan T. 
Storage, Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern 
District of West Virginia and submits this Sentencing Memorandum 
in aid of sentencing.  
I. 
SENTENCING FACTORS 
 
The United States offers the following analysis relating to 
the application of the sentencing factors enumerated in 18 U.S.C. 
§ 3553(a). As discussed below, the government requests that the 
Court sentence the defendant to 37 months’ imprisonment, to be 
followed by 5 years’ supervised release. The government further 
requests the Court impose a fine of $10,000, order restitution in 
the amount of $184,014.04, and order a forfeiture money judgment 
in the amount of $3,000.  
A. History and Characteristics of the Offender 
The defendant grew up in Brooklyn, New York, living 
predominately with her great aunt. From 2003 to 2018, the 
Case 2:24-cr-00192     Document 415     Filed 11/18/25     Page 1 of 5 PageID #: 2747

2 
 
defendant lived in West Virginia. She has 4 siblings and 2 
children. She is currently single and lives in Brooklyn, New York.  
From age 13 until her arrest in this case, she used marijuana 
daily. She has a GED and an associate’s degree. She has worked in 
the healthcare field for nearly 20 years. 
B. Nature and Circumstances of the Offense 
 
The Court is well acquainted with the facts of this case. The 
defendant was the ringleader in a large scheme to defraud various 
financial institutions and the United States Small Business 
Administration. Until she got caught, her scheme was very 
successful. The defendant solicited friends and family to allow 
her to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans on their 
behalf. Sadly, she convinced many individuals, now co-defendants, 
to go along with the plan.  
Of course, none of the individuals she solicited qualified 
for a PPP loan, and the defendant knew this. Undeterred by facts, 
she made up details about her co-defendants to ensure that, on 
paper, they qualified for the loans. She created false tax forms 
and loan applications – completely making up income and business 
expenses for her co-defendants.  
Once the loan applications were completed and submitted, she 
waited with her co-defendants to learn whether the loans were 
approved. When they were approved, she provided her co-defendants 
Case 2:24-cr-00192     Document 415     Filed 11/18/25     Page 2 of 5 PageID #: 2748

3 
 
with instructions on how to compensate her for obtaining “free 
money” for them. In other words, she expected and directed kickback 
payments.  
The kickback payments were not so straightforward. To conceal 
the true nature and source of the money, she directed her co-
defendants to pay her through Cash App, admonishing them to break 
up the payments. In some instances, as with co-defendant Shamiese 
Wright, her co-defendants wrote “memos” for the kickback payments 
that were wholly unrelated to their true purpose.  
Thus, the defendant conceived, organized, and implemented a 
full-throated bank fraud and money laundering scheme to steal money 
from the federal government.  
C. Seriousness 
of 
Offense, 
Deterrence, 
and 
Community 
Protection 
 
The defendant systematically executed a multi-party financial 
scheme over a period of several months - no small feat for a person 
with no documented criminal history. Her criminal conduct was 
premeditated and consistent. Her actions are not indicative of 
some one-off slip in judgment; she recruited her co-defendants and 
directed the scheme.  
More than anyone else who the United States Attorney’s Office 
for the Southern District of West Virginia has prosecuted for PPP 
loan fraud, Kisha Sutton is deserving of time in prison. Kisha 
Case 2:24-cr-00192     Document 415     Filed 11/18/25     Page 3 of 5 PageID #: 2749

4 
 
Sutton is the kind of defendant judges in this district have been 
asking about: “What is being done about the people who have lured 
in our West Virginia residents with the promise of free COVID 
money?” Well, Kisha Sutton is one such exploiter.  
The defendant’s offense is very serious, and she should be 
punished in a way that reflects her leadership role in the scheme. 
Moreover, she helped create felons out of individuals who otherwise 
had no (or no meaningful) criminal histories. A message of strong 
deterrence is necessary for the defendant and any would-be 
defendant of her kind. 
 
D. Sentencing Options  
Because the bank fraud conviction is a Class B felony, a term 
of probation is unavailable. The government submits that a term of 
37 months’ imprisonment accurately reflects the seriousness of the 
defendant’s conduct, would deter future offenses, and would not be 
greater than necessary to meet all of the other purpose of 
sentencing. The government requests that the defendant’s term of 
imprisonment be followed by a supervised release term of 5 years. 
Restitution in the amount of $184,014.04 and a forfeiture money 
judgment in the amount of $3,000 should be ordered, along with a 
fine of $10,000. 
 
 
Case 2:24-cr-00192     Document 415     Filed 11/18/25     Page 4 of 5 PageID #: 2750

5 
 
II. 
CONCLUSION  
 
The government submits that the requested would be sufficient 
but not greater than necessary to meet the purposes of sentencing. 
 
                              Respectfully submitted, 
                                                        
                              MOORE CAPITO 
                              United States Attorney 
 
 
 
 
 
 
By: 
s/Jonathan T. Storage            
JONATHAN T. STORAGE 
Assistant United States Attorney 
WV State Bar No. 12279 
300 Virginia Street, East 
Room 4000 
Charleston, WV 25301 
Telephone: 304-345-2200 
Fax: 304-347-5104 
E-mail: Jonathan.Storage@usdoj.gov  
Case 2:24-cr-00192     Document 415     Filed 11/18/25     Page 5 of 5 PageID #: 2751

File and source

File

gov.uscourts.wvsd.240497.415.0.pdf

Size

101,974 bytes

SHA-256

e5988b8e7535d6f47e32a63e3973b18fc5079b8da2cfb1bab1a4a4d7edb766bd

Our copy

gov.uscourts.wvsd.240497.415.0.pdf

Original

PACER (login required)