Federal district · prosecutions
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
35 pandemic-relief fraud prosecution records for the Northern District of Georgia, naming 35 defendants. By program: 29 PPP, 1 EIDL, 2 unemployment insurance, 3 other or unclassified. 11 have a case page in the archive. An amount is stated for 33 of them, from $46,004.04 to $15,000,000. Source dates run from 2021-07-22 to 2026-09-03.
Cases
35 defendants · 12 with a case page · sorted by amount, largest first
| Defendant | Case page | Program | Charge | Amount | Disposition | Sentence | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelitha Robertson | Shelitha Robertson — Has Been Sentenced for Fraudulently Obtaining Approximately $15 Million in Loans — Atlanta | PPP | false claims, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering | $15,000,000 obtained (release: fraudulently obtaining approximately $15 million in PPP loans) | sentenced | 87 months | 2024-06-07 |
| Darrell Thomas | USA v. Thomas et al — Carla Jackson judgment, N.D. Ga. | PPP, EIDL | conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements | $14,700,000 fraudulent conduct total | plea | 180 months | 2022-05-19 |
| Carl Delano Torjagbo | United States v. Carl Delano Torjagbo — N.D. Ga., No. 1:22-cr-171-MLB | PPP | tax fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering | $13,000,000 proceeds received | jury trial | 175 months | 2026-01-29 |
| Teldrin Foster | Three More Paycheck Protection Program Defendants Sentenced | PPP | conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, false statements, money laundering | $11,000,000 total fraudulent loans obtained | plea | 121 months | 2024-06-28 |
| Hunter VanPelt | United States v. Vanpelt | PPP | bank fraud | $6,017,066.50 obtained (release: six PPP loans requested $7,943,591.50, of which $6,017,066.50 was disbursed) | sentenced | 41 months | 2022-01-04 |
| Maurice Fayne | Maurice Fayne PPP fraud case — U.S. District Court, N.D. Ga. | PPP | conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, false statements | $4,465,865.55 restitution ordered | plea | 210 months | 2021-09-15 |
| Daniel Eric Jay | Judgment - United States v. Maurice Fayne related docket | PPP | $4,465,865.55 restitution ordered | 87 months | |||
| Lakisha Swope | Georgia woman sentenced to nearly four years in prison for multi-million dollar COVID-19 relief fraud | PPP | conspiracy to defraud the program | $3,626,961 proceeds received | sentenced | 46 months | 2023-08-09 |
| Rowlando Hatter, Jr. | Smyrna resident sentenced for $3.3 million multi-state covid-19 Unemployment Insurance fraud scheme | UI | conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft | $3,300,000 actual loss | plea | 69 months | 2023-03-31 |
| Attallah Williams | PPP/EIDL/ERC | conspiracy to defraud the United States through fraudulent claims | $3,272,000 distributed (release: "resulting in $3,272,000 being distributed before the scheme was disrupted"; false claims of more than $3.5 million) | guilty plea | 78 months | 2026-09-03 | |
| Kenneth L. Wright, Jr. | Eleven sentenced in connection with a $3 million Paycheck Protection Program fraud scheme (2023-01-19) | PPP | conspiracy, false statements, bank fraud, false statement, money laundering | $3,000,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 12 months | 2023-01-19 |
| Rodericque Jarmaine Thompson | Judgment as to Rodericque Jarmaine Thompson — USA v. Thompson et al (Dkt. 259, N.D. Ga.) | PPP | $2,723,259.47 restitution ordered | 70 months | 2022-11-09 | ||
| Oluwagbemiga Otufale | Metro Atlanta man sentenced for money laundering conspiracy involving COVID fraud proceeds | UI | money laundering, conspiracy | $2,600,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 84 months | 2023-06-14 |
| Denesseria Slaton | Denesseria Slaton bank and wire fraud conspiracy case — N.D. Ga., Atlanta | PPP | $2,412,222 restitution ordered | 46 months | |||
| Paul Kwak | Atlanta-based financial advisor sentenced for COVID-relief fraud scheme | EIDL | Conspiracy to submit fraudulent EIDL applications | $2,000,000 attempted | plea | 40 months | 2023-10-13 |
| Jose Fernandez | Former Atlanta business-owner sentenced to prison for obtaining millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief fraud | PPP | submitting fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications, filing false tax returns using stolen identities, using credit cards he obtained with stolen identities, and check fraud | $2,000,000 obtained | plea | 70 months | 2023-06-30 |
| Christopher Hayes | Lithonia man charged with defrauding the USDA’s COVID Relief Program | Unclassified pandemic relief | false claim | $1,500,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 30 months | 2021-08-03 |
| Bern Benoit | USA v. Thomas et al — Bern Benoit filings, N.D. Ga., Atlanta Division | PPP | $1,105,217 restitution ordered | 27 months | |||
| Charles Hill | USA v. Thomas et al — Charles Hill IV filings, N.D. Ga., Atlanta | PPP | $1,004,805 restitution ordered | 5 years probation | |||
| Travis Lee Harris | Atlanta Promoter, Entrepreneur, and Former NFL Player Sentenced for Paycheck Protection Program Fraud | PPP | wire fraud | $1,000,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 16 months | 2024-09-12 |
| Jerry Baptiste | Fraudster Receives Prison Sentence in Illegal Paycheck Protection Program Scheme | PPP | money laundering, conspiracy, wire fraud, false statement, aggravated identity theft, bank fraud | $830,417 obtained (release: the Transportation Management PPP loan, $830,417; the same amount in restitution) | plea | 78 months | 2025-02-28 |
| Andre Lee Gaines | Andre Lee Gaines PPP fraud case — N.D. Ga., Atlanta Division | PPP | $806,710 restitution ordered | 5 years probation | |||
| Roderick Bashon Billingslea, Jr. | Georgia Trucker Sentenced for PPP Fraud | PPP | identity theft, wire fraud | $591,668.89 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 30 months | 2024-08-15 |
| Maurice Lawson | Georgia man sentenced to prison for COVID-19 relief fraud | PPP/EIDL | false claims, conspiracy | $537,120 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 21 months | 2023-08-16 |
| Boeroepae Jordan | United States v. Boeroepae Jordan — N.D. Ga., Atlanta Division, No. 1:24-cr-00304-SDG | PPP/EIDL | wire fraud | $323,433.31 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 41 months | 2025-01-17 |
| Olivia Ware | Olivia Ware, a Former Mayoral Candidate for the City of Conyers, Has Been Sentenced to Prison — Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) | PPP | bank fraud | $323,100 proceeds received | plea | 24 months | 2022-07-22 |
| Tracy Denise Jones | Section 8, SBA pandemic relief, Mortgage | conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, wire fraud, and credit application fraud | $282,780 improperly obtained Section 8 funds, SBA pandemic relief funds, and mortgage loan application amount | plea | 9 months | 2026-05-22 | |
| Austin Martin Siampwizi | USA v. Siampwizi — U.S. District Court, N.D. Ga., Atlanta Division | PPP/EIDL/UI/Rental assistance | identity theft, money laundering, conspiracy | $279,210.52 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 37 months | 2024-04-03 |
| Santwon Antonio Davis | Employer fraud / bank fraud | wire fraud, bank fraud | $187,550 obtained | plea | 36 months | 2021-07-22 | |
| Brandon Ridge | Atlanta man sentenced for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud | PPP | bank fraud | $162,467.50 obtained (release: received $162,467.50 in fraudulent loan proceeds; requested $449,917.50) | sentenced | 24 months | 2021-12-08 |
| Ashford Leon Richardson | Drug Trafficker Returns to Prison for Committing PPP and Other Pandemic Relief Fraud (June 15, 2023) | PPP/EIDL | wire fraud | $85,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 30 months | 2023-06-15 |
| Rodriquez Deonte Redding | Drug Trafficker Sentenced to Additional Prison Time for Committing PPP Fraud While on Bond | PPP/Rental assistance | conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, money laundering, and wire fraud | $46,666 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 15 months | 2022-01-25 |
| Harrescia Hopkins | USA v. Hopkins — U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia | PPP/EIDL | wire fraud | $46,004.04 restitution ordered (release: repay all three loans in full, $46,004.04) | sentenced | 5 months | 2023-06-16 |
| Ellen Corkrum | Georgia Woman Sentenced to 41 Months in COVID-19 Fraud Scheme | PPP | bank fraud | guilty plea | 41 months | 2022-01-04 | |
| Charmaine Redding | United States v. Charmaine Redding — N.D. Ga., Atlanta, No. 1:21-cr-00178-JPB | PPP | 27 months |
Data and method
Each row is one row of the pandemic-relief sentences table, printed as that table prints it: defendant, program, charge, amount and its basis, disposition, and the date of the source the row was read from. A blank cell is a blank cell in the table. The sentence column states the months of imprisonment the table records, or the years of probation where it records no custodial term. A case page is linked only where a case page in this district names the defendant; 11 of the 35 rows do. District is the table’s own district field, resolved to this court. Rows whose district field names only a state with more than one federal district are not placed on any district page. A date the table writes in another form is restated as YYYY-MM-DD; a cell that is not a date is printed as it stands. An amount of $1 billion or more is left out — 3 rows here: those cells carry a program appropriation quoted in the source release, not a sum attributed to the defendant. Some defendants have more than one row because the table read them from more than one source.
Court hub: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia — every filing in the archive from this court, with the case pages it holds.