United States v. Lori Isabell Morgan

Case summary

Lori Isabell Morgan, 35, of Greenbelt, Maryland, was arrested on June 12, 2024, on a six-count wire fraud indictment accusing her of defrauding the government of nearly $150,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds. The charges are allegations, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.¹

According to court documents, Morgan submitted an EIDL application to the SBA claiming to own 100 percent of an "agriculture" business based out of her Washington, D.C. apartment, with 10 employees and $7.5 million in gross revenues in 2019. The documents say no such business existed. On July 8, 2020, the SBA deposited $149,900 into her bank account. According to the same documents, she used it to pay off debts and to pay for auto repair, restaurant tabs, shopping and trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas. By December 31, 2020, her account balance had fallen to $829.¹

She made her initial court appearance on June 12 before Judge Zia M. Faruqui in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; the case number is 24cr232. The FBI's Washington Field Office investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Macey is prosecuting it.¹

Notes

1. U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, "Owner of 'Agriculture' Business Charged With Defrauding SBA of $150,000 in COVID-Relief Funds" (original), June 17, 2024. ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.