Criminal Information — United States v. Monica Faye Barnes and Dontrell Rayshar Barnes (E.D.N.C.)

Record facts

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina · No. 5:23-cr-00094-D · Doc. 5 · 2023-03-22 · Docket on CourtListener

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DGB 
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA 
WESTERN DIVISION 
No.5·-23-C(2-9 4 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
FILED 
MAR 2 2 2023 
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CRIMINAL INFORMATION 
DONTRELL RAYSHARE BARNES 
MONICA FAYE BARNES 
The United States Attorney charges the following: 
INTRODUCTORY ALLEGATIONS 
1. 
From in or about March 2021 to in or about September 2021, Defendants 
MONICA FA YE BARNES, DONTRELL RAYSHAR BARNES, and others, known and 
unknown to the United States Attorney, conspired to defraud the United States 
Government in the name of a company they controlled. This scheme involved frauds 
upon institutions and agencies engaged to provide financial assistance to the public 
arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. 
2. 
At all times relevant to this Information, both Defendants were 
residents of the Eastern District of North Carolina. 
COVID Fraud: The Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") 
3. 
In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
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Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was designed to provide emergency financial 
assistance to millions of Americans who were suffering from the economic effects 
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
4. 
The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) was an 
executive-branch agency of the United States government that provided support to 
entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the SBA was to maintain and 
strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small 
business and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters. 
5. 
One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization 
of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and 
certain other expenses, through a program referred to as the Paycheck Protection 
Program (PPP). In or around April 2020, Congress authorized over $300 billion in 
additional PPP funding. 
6. 
To obtain a PPP loan, businesses were required to submit a PPP loan 
application, signed by an authorized representative of the business, acknowledging 
the program rules. 
The business was required to state (a) its average monthly 
payroll expenses and (b) the number of employees. 
These figures were used to 
calculate the amount of money the small business was eligible to receive under the 
PPP. In addition, businesses applying for a PPP loan were required to provide 
documentation showing their payroll expenses. 
7. 
A PPP loan application was required to be processed by a participating 
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financial institution ("Lender"). Many Lenders constituted financial institutions, as 
that term is defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 20. If a PPP loan 
application was approved, the Lender funded the PPP loan using its own moneys, 
which were 100% guaranteed by the SBA. Data from the application, including 
information about the borrower, the total amount of the loan, and the listed number 
of employees, were transmitted by the Lender to the SBA in the course of processing 
the loan. 
8. 
PPP loan proceeds were required to be used by businesses on certain 
permissible expenses: payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. Loans 
provided through the PPP have government-backed guarantees and are 100% 
forgivable if the borrower submits documentation to the PPP Lender and SBA 
demonstrating that at least sixty percent (60%) of the PPP loan proceeds were utilized 
to meet existing payroll obligations and to retain employees. 
9. 
Funds disbursed under the PPP and other programs are referred to 
collectively herein as "COVID Loans." 
The Scheme to Defraud 
10. 
From in or about March 2021, to in or about September 2021, the 
Defendants, MONICA FAYE BARNES and DONTRELL RAYSHAR BARNES ("the 
Defendants") conspired with each other, E.W., S.C., and others to engage in a fraud 
upon the PPP program. The Defendants engaged in fraud upon the PPP program in 
the name of Minnie's Banana Cups and Catering Service, Inc. (hereinafter "Minnie's 
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Banana Cups"), which MONICA BARNES owned. The Defendants were domiciled 
in Wilson, North Carolina. E.W. and S.C. resided in Texas. 
11. 
E.W. assisted numerous other companies and individuals (collectively 
"Borrowers") located around the country to fraudulently obtain PPP and other 
COVID Loans. In exchange for their assistance in obtaining COVID Loans, the 
Borrowers such as the Defendants paid E.W. a fee representing a percentage of the 
fraudulent loan proceeds. 
In total, E.W. and their spouse, S.C., collectively 
facilitated the fraudulent disbursement of more than $15 Million in COVID Loans. 
12. 
To promote the operation of the scheme, E.W. and S.C. utilized 
middlemen to recruit Borrowers. E.W. and S.C. paid, and caused others to pay, 
these middlemen a "cut" of the fee charged for securing the fraudulent loans for the 
Borrowers. 
13. 
Q.J. was one such Borrower who operated various companies in the 
Eastern District of North Carolina. 
Q.J. utilized E.W. and S.C. to fraudulently 
obtain COVID Loans in the names of several companies. In addition to being a 
Borrower, Q.J. also served as a middleman, and, directly or indirectly, recruited 
additional Borrowers-including the Defendants-for E.W. and S.C. for an agreed 
upon fee. 
14. 
To carry out the scheme, the conspirators engaged in the following series 
of steps: 
a. E.W. came into contact with DONTRELL RAYSHAR BARNES-a 
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Borrower who desired to obtain a PPP loan-through Q.J. 
DONTRELL RAYSHAR BARNES then conspired with MONICA 
FAYE BARNES, his mother, to obtain a fraudulent PPP loan for 
Minnie's Banana Cups with E.W.'s assistance. 
b. The Defendants and E.W. communicated through interstate text 
messages, phone calls, and emails. 
During these contacts, the 
Defendants discussed the process by which E.W. would assist them 
to secure a PPP loan. 
c. The Defendants supplied E.W. with various information concerning 
themselves and Minnie's Banana Cups, which would be used to 
obtain the PPP loan, such as the company's federal tax identification 
number and purported payroll information for the prior year. The 
Defendants also supplied personal information, such as their driver's 
licenses and social security cards. The Defendants also provided 
bank account information for the company, including the account 
number and routing information. 
d. E.W. and S.C. used the information supplied by the Defendants to 
fraudulently apply for a PPP loan. In furtherance of the application, 
E.W. created documents that falsely reflected such information as 
the annual payroll, gross receipts, expenses, number of employees, 
and employee names for Minnie's Banana Cups. 
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e. E.W. and S.C. then supplied fraudulent documents to the Defendants 
via interstate email transmission for review and signature, such as 
the Paycheck Protection Program Borrower Application Form. 
These documents were fraudulent because, among other reasons, 
they intentionally misrepresented the average monthly payroll and 
true number of employees for Minnie's Banana Cups. 
f. E.W. and S.C. also supplied to the Defendants via interstate email, 
a purported employee listing and annual salary for Minnie's Banana 
Cups. 
MONICA FAYE BARNES signed and returned these 
fraudulent documents. 
g. E.W. and S.C. also supplied to the Defendants via interstate email, 
fraudulent IRS forms: Form 940 and Form 941 documents. The 
forms were fraudulent because they misrepresented the actual 
annual and quarterly wages for Minnie's Banana Cups. MONICA 
FAYE BARNES received, signed, and returned the fraudulent and 
backdated Form 940 and Form 941s. 
h. The PPP loan application was electronically submitted or caused to 
be submitted by E.W. and S.C. in MONICA BARNES' name, and 
received through SBA servers located in Oregon, using the 
fraudulent 
information 
described 
above, 
by 
electronically 
transmitting the information to the lending institution, Harvest 
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Small Business Finance, LLC, which 1s based m California, via 
interstate wire transmission. 
1. Specifically, the fraudulent PPP application and supporting 
paperwork claimed seven employees and an annual payroll of 
approximately $700,000, figures designed to yield a PPP loan in 
amount of just under $150,000. E.W. engineered this result because 
he would be able to apply for forgiveness from the SBA with minimal 
paperwork requirements. 
J. MONICA FAYE BARNES or another member of the conspiracy 
acting at E.W.'s direction electronically signed the promissory note 
or promise to pay. 
k. The PPP loan monies were then deposited via interstate wire 
transfer into a PNC bank account ending in -4941 associated with 
Minnie's Banana Cups. 
15. 
After receiving proceeds from the PPP fraud described above, the 
Defendants carried out a series of steps orchestrated by E.W. that made it appear as 
though Minnie's Banana Cups was paying biweekly payroll to its employees. 
16. 
Over an approximately four-to-six week period, MONICA FAYE 
BARNES wrote checks payable to each of the individuals previously named as 
purported employees of Minnie's Banana Cups. Each of the checks contained a 
memo notation stating a "pay period" and a two-week interval. Collectively, these 
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checks made it falsely appear that each of the check recipients was engaged in work 
on behalf of Minnie's Banana Cups, and receiving regular wages during each of the 
sated periods. In reality, none of the check recipients previously received wages 
from Minnie's Banana Cups comparable to those paid from the PPP proceeds. 
17. 
The purported employees returned some or all of the money back to the 
Defendants, who then wrote checks to E.W. to compensate him for his assistance in 
helping the Defendants to fraudulently obtain the PPP loan. 
18. 
E.W., acting on the Defendants' behalf, successfully applied for loan 
forgiveness from the SBA by falsely attesting that the PPP proceeds were used to pay 
legitimate employee wages. 
THE CHARGE 
19. 
The United States Attorney realleges and incorporates by reference 
herein all of the allegations contained in the preceding paragraphs of this Criminal 
Information, and further alleges that MONICA FAYE BARNES, DONTRELL 
RAYSHAR BARNES, E.W., and others known to the United States Attorney, carried 
out the conspiracy in the manner and means as set forth in those paragraphs. 
20. 
From in or about March 2021 to in or about September 2021, in the 
Eastern District of North Carolina and elsewhere, the Defendants MONICA FAYE 
BARNES and DONTRELL RAYSHAR BARNES, and others known to the United 
States Attorney, did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree, and did 
have a tacit understanding with each other, to commit an offense against the United 
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States: that is, to knowingly devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to 
defraud and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and 
fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and for the purpose of executing 
such scheme and artifice, to knowingly transmit and cause to be transmitted by 
means of wire communication in interstate commerce, any writings, signs, signals, 
and sounds in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343. 
All in in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. 
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FORFEITURE NOTICE 
Notice is hereby given that all right, title and interest in the property described 
herein is subject to forfeiture. 
Upon conviction of any offense charged herein constituting "specified unlawful 
activity" (as defined in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(c)(7) and 1961(1)), or a conspiracy to commit 
such offense, the defendant shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 
§ 98l(a)(l)(C), as made applicable by 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c), any property, real or 
personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the said offense. 
The forfeitable property includes, but is not limited to, the following: 
Forfeiture Money Judgment: 
a) A sum of money representing the gross proceeds of the offense(s) charged 
herein against MONICA FAYE BARNES in the amount of at least $94,791. 
If any of the above-described forfeitable property, as a result of any act or 
omission of a defendant: cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; has 
been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; has been placed beyond 
the jurisdiction of the court; has been substantially diminished in value; or has been 
commingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty; it is the 
intent of the United States, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section 853(p), 
to seek forfeiture of any other property of said defendant up to the value of the 
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forfeitable property described above. 
BY: 
11 
MICHAEL F. EASLEY, JR 
United States Attorney 
~ 
Assistant United States Attorney 
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