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Lisa Smith

Executive

PPP
Type
Person
Role
Executive
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

A Cornelius, North Carolina woman who admitted, in a New Jersey federal case, to a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fraud scheme involving at least 29 PPP loans totaling more than $3.5 million. Her sentencing, reset at least five times since November 2024, was set for Aug. 26, 2026 on the docket as refreshed July 16, 2026. "Lisa Smith" is a common name and this profile is limited to the individual named in this specific case.

Individuals whose conduct was challenged or called into question during or after the pandemic. See sources: Criminal complaint, July 12, 2023 Plea agreement, July 17, 2024

In the archive

Identity and role

Lisa Smith was a co-defendant in a bank-fraud conspiracy prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alongside Eric Rivera, Sieff Robert Sargeant, Adrienne Ponzo, James Wessels, Yasha Barjona, and William Ingram.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

According to her July 2024 DOJ plea release, Smith obtained $125,000 in PPP loans for companies she controlled using fake bank statements and IRS tax forms, helped recruited applicants submit fraudulent applications, and received a percentage of the loan proceeds. The October 2024 sentencing release for KeyBank branch manager Tommy Hawkins states that Hawkins worked with Smith and Eric Rivera to recruit applicants to his Conshohocken, Pennsylvania branch and was to be paid $5,000 from the proceeds of each PPP loan he helped obtain.

  • Charged: July 19, 2023, by complaint with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering (DOJ release); initial appearance in the Western District of North Carolina.
  • Pleaded guilty: July 17, 2024, to one count of bank fraud conspiracy, before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden (DOJ release, Dkt. 19 minute entry). The plea release scheduled sentencing for Nov. 21, 2024.
  • Forfeiture: consent judgment with a $183,146.42 money judgment in favor of the United States, signed the day of the plea (Dkt. 22, July 17, 2024; docket).
  • Not yet sentenced: the docket (we have copies of the PACER materials and adjournment letters) shows sentencing repeatedly reset; the currently scheduled date is cited to the docket as refreshed July 16, 2026.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

Awaiting sentencing as of the docket refreshed July 16, 2026.

Court records

Sources

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