Houston Woman Charged with Cares Act Fraud and Theft of Government Funds (Press Release, July 10, 2023)

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, dated Monday, July 10, 2023, announcing that Temika Santemore, age 43, of Houston, Texas, was charged July 7, 2023 in a two-count bill of information with making false statements and theft of government funds related to the CARES Act. According to the charging documents, Santemore made false statements to the SBA to obtain pandemic-related relief loans, including PPP funds, and received approximately $13,540. The charging documents also state that Santemore applied for an EIDL in July of 2021 and illegally received $5,000 for a dormant business. The release states that a bill of information is merely a charge.

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PRESS RELEASE



Houston Woman Charged with
Cares Act Fraud and Theft of
Government Funds
Monday, July 10, 2023


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
shane.jones@usdoj.gov

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that TEMIKA
SANTEMORE, age 43, currently a resident of Houston, Texas, was charged July 7, 2023
in a two-count bill of information with making false statements and theft of government
funds related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency
financial assistance in connection with economic effects of the COVID-19
pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of up
to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other
expenses, through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). In April 2020, Congress
authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding.

The PPP allows qualifying small businesses and other organizations to receive loans with
a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1%. PPP loan proceeds must be used by
businesses on payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. The PPP allows
the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if the business spends the loan
proceeds on these expense items within a designated period of time after receiving the
proceeds and uses at least a certain percentage of the PPP loan proceeds on payroll
expenses.

In addition, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) program was a U.S. Small
Business Administration (SBA) program that provided low-interest financing to small
businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions affected by declared disasters. The
CARES Act provided funding for EIDL loans for business affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. In contrast to the PPP, EIDL loan amounts were determined based on the
recipient businesses’ historical revenue and disbursed directly to the recipient by the
SBA.

According to the charging documents, SANTEMORE made false statements to the SBA
to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief loans funded by the federal government,
including PPP funds. As a result, SANTEMORE received approximately $13,540 in such
pandemic-related relief loans. SANTEMORE also applied for an EIDL from the SBA in
July of 2021 and illegally received $5,000 for a dormant business that she owned.

SANTEMORE faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and
up to three years of supervised release for the false statements count. She faces up to
ten years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and up to three years of supervised release
for the theft count. There is also a $100 mandatory special assessment fee per count
due after conviction.

U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the
guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

For more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with information about allegations of
attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s
National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF
Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-
form.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General –
Criminal Investigations, the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.

Contact
Shane M. Jones

Public Information Officer

United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

United States Department of Justice

Updated July 10, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD


Components
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Louisiana, Eastern


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