Slovakian Man Admits $730,000 Pandemic Loan Fraud
Summary
Mark Ethan Jermain, a man from the Slovak Republic, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud and admitted fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief loans totaling $730,550. The release states that he submitted three fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications from April 26, 2020, to July 16, 2021, using his prior legal name, Arsene Millogo, including an $80,000 application for Crazyeats LLC and a $325,275 application for Unimentors LLC. It states the money was transferred to Slovakia and the loans were forgiven after he falsely claimed he used all the money for payroll. He is scheduled to be sentenced January 8, and wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Slovakian Man Admits $730,000 Pandemic Loan Fraud.”
Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-06-25-slovakian-man-admits-730-000-pandemic-loan-fraud-fcdaa731-3ddca5d178/
, SHA-256 71b84847d0a20c11964fe49171e1e821e1c404f28b24786d6851979a208c5487.Full text
ST. LOUIS –A man from the Slovak Republic pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday and admitted fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief loans totaling $730,550. Mark Ethan Jermain, 41, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. He admitted submitting three fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications from April 26, 2020, to July 16, 2021, using his prior legal name, Arsene Millogo. The PPP loans were intended to help struggling American businesses and jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money was supposed to be spent on payroll and other business expenses. On April 26, 2020, Jermain submitted a fraudulent $80,000 loan application for Crazyeats LLC, a company he’d established in Missouri in 2017. He falsely and fraudulently inflated the average monthly payroll he’d listed for Crazyeats. After the loan was approved, Jermain transferred the money to a Slovakian bank account. On May 13, 2020, Jermain submitted another fraudulent PPP loan application, this time for a company he’d set up called Unimentors LLC, in the amount of $325,275. The application contained similar false information, and the resulting loan money was also transferred to Slovakia. On Feb. 5, 2021, Jermain submitted a Second Draw PPP loan application for $325,275. After the application was approved, the money was also transferred to Slovakia. The loans were later forgiven because Jermain falsely claimed that he’d used all the money for payroll purposes. He actually used the money for personal purchases and other unapproved purposes. Jermain was in the Slovak Republic when he committed his crimes. Jermain returned to the U.S. on August 17, 2023, and was arrested by FBI agents on September 7, the day he was scheduled to leave the country. Jermain is scheduled to be sentenced January 8. Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both prison and a fine. The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is prosecuting the case. Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form .
File and source
- File
- 2024-06-25_slovakian-man-admits-730-000-pandemic-loan-fraud_fcdaa731.md.txt
- Size
- 2,290 bytes
- SHA-256
- 71b84847d0a20c11964fe49171e1e821e1c404f28b24786d6851979a208c5487
- Original
- www.justice.gov