Franklin County Woman Sentenced to Two More Years for Pandemic Loan Fraud After $727,000 Embezzlement

Summary

A press release published 2023-01-04 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announcing that U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced Christen Diane Schulte, 37, of Franklin County to two more years in prison for fraudulently applying for three PPP loans. The office states that Schulte applied in the spring of 2021 while awaiting sentencing in an unrelated $727,000 embezzlement case, falsely denying felony charges and misstating the gross income of the Mama Bear Cake Company. According to the release, one $13,691 application was rejected, a $13,566 loan was approved, and she received a second draw of $13,566 on May 19, 2021. It states that she pleaded guilty in September to three counts of bank fraud and was ordered to repay the loan money.

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“Franklin County Woman Sentenced to Two More Years for Pandemic Loan Fraud After $727,000 Embezzlement.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-01-04-franklin-county-woman-sentenced-to-two-more-years-in-prison-afe8f93c5c/, SHA-256 743bd093c944afb5c9c05b9e29b790ef3f0477e2d79eb83c0aee0c725cca0fd5.

Full text

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a woman from Franklin County, Missouri to two more years in prison for fraudulently applying for three Paycheck Protection Program loans after she had pleaded guilty to an unrelated $727,000 embezzlement case.
Judge Schelp on Wednesday called Christen Diane Schulte’s conduct “outrageous” and “very aggravating.”
Schulte, now 37, had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing on the embezzlement case in the spring of 2021 when she fraudulently applied for three PPP loans, designed to help save small businesses and jobs from economic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schulte lied on the loans when asked if she was facing or had been convicted of a felony, and when asked the same question about a felony involving fraud, bribery, embezzlement or a false statement in an application for a loan or for federal assistance.
She also lied about the gross income for the “Mama Bear Cake Company.”
One application for a $13,691 loan was rejected due to her criminal history. A $13,566 loan was approved by a different financial institution. She then sought and received a “second draw” of $13,566 from that company, receiving the money on May 19, 2021.
Eight days later, Schulte
was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison
and ordered to repay $517,140 in the embezzlement case. She pleaded guilty in 2020 to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering and admitted embezzling funds from her employer and other individuals and entities associated with her employer.
Schulte pleaded guilty in September to three more counts of bank fraud in the new case. She was also ordered on Wednesday to repay the loan money.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.

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Our copy: 2023-01-04_franklin-county-woman-sentenced-to-two-more-years-in-prison-for-committi_60b595bc.md.txt
Original: www.justice.gov