Houma Man Sentenced for Making False Statements to Federal Agents (Press Release, September 13, 2024)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, dated September 13, 2024, announcing that Dondre Morgan of Houma was sentenced on September 10, 2024 for Making False Statements to Federal Agents, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2). According to court documents, on April 7, 2022, Morgan made materially false statements to special agents of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, about involvement in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud scheme. United States District Judge Darrel James Papillion imposed ten months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, restitution of $55,945.33 and a $100.00 special assessment. The release describes the PRAC Fraud Task Force and its Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence.

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PRESS RELEASE



Houma Man Sentenced for
Making False Statements to
Federal Agents
Friday, September 13, 2024


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

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans
announced that DONDRE MORGAN, (“MORGAN”), age 32, of Houma, LA, was
sentenced on September 10, 2024 for Making False Statements to Federal Agents, in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2).

According to court documents, on April 7, 2022, MORGAN made materially false
statements to special agents with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of
Inspector General, Criminal Investigations Division. Specifically, MORGAN lied about his
involvement and participation in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud
scheme.

United States District Judge Darrel James Papillion sentenced MORGAN to ten months
of imprisonment, followed by three (3) years of supervised release, payment of
restitution in the amount of $55,945.33, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment
fee.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement
Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-
related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with
administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting
and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information
on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of
the Inspector General, is an active member of the PRAC Fraud Task Force.

The PRAC was established to promote transparency and facilitate coordinated oversight
of the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC’s 20 member
Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency boundaries to
detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5 trillion in COVID-
19 spending, including spending via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and
Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. This case was also supported by the
PRAC’s Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, which applies the latest advances in
analytic and forensic technologies to help OIGs and law enforcement pursue data-driven
pandemic relief fraud investigations.”

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.

The United States Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the
Department of Veteran Affairs, Office of the Inspector General; United States
Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General; United States Department of
Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; and the United States Secret
Service’s Cyber Fraud Task Force, consisting of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office,
Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, Thibodeaux Police Department, and the Louisiana
Bureau of Investigation, with this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled
by Assistant United States Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit;
Assistant United States Attorney Edward Rivera, COVID-19 Fraud Coordinator of the
Financial Crimes Unit; and Assistant United States Attorney Mary Katherine Kaufman, of
the General Crimes Unit.

Contact
Shane M. Jones

Public Information Officer

United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

United States Department of Justice

Updated September 13, 2024
Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD


Component
USAO - Louisiana, Eastern


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