Profiles · Defendants
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Defendant
- Programs
- PPP, ERC
- Updated
The profile
A New Orleans man who pleaded guilty in March 2026 to four fraudulent PPP loans, a mail-fraud conspiracy that got $625,310 in Employee Retention Credit money from the Treasury, laundering part of it to a Florida investment company, possessing a McLaren stolen in Connecticut, and a separate concert-promotion fraud.
Identity and role
Hardell Mack, 54, of New Orleans, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which also took a wire-fraud case transferred from the Middle District of Louisiana.
The scheme and pandemic-relief role
According to court records as the office described them, Mack's pandemic fraud ran through two programs:
- PPP: on or about July 24, 2020 he got a $20,284 Paycheck Protection Program loan with a false statement, and three more fraudulent PPP loans, for a total loss to the SBA of $79,356.
- ERC: he conspired to file false tax records by mail to obtain an Employee Retention Credit (ERC), causing a loss to the government of $625,310.
The ERC count brought in almost eight times what the four PPP loans did. He sent more than $10,000 of the ERC proceeds to an investment company in Florida, which is the money laundering count. The fourth count is possession of a McLaren automobile stolen from Connecticut. In the transferred case he pleaded guilty to wire fraud for defrauding an investor in a concert-promotion scheme.
Legal status / controversies
- Pleaded guilty: March 25, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, to making false statements related to the CARES Act, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, money laundering and possession of a stolen vehicle, and to wire fraud in the transferred case.
- Sentencing: set for June 24, 2026. We found no sentence in the Justice Department releases through September 15, 2026.
Where they are now (2025–2026)
The April 2026 release is the last public record of Mack we found.