Former Law Enforcement Officer Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Multimillion Dollar Scheme (DOJ, 2024)

Summary

A press release from USAO - Louisiana, Middle published 2024-12-06, "Former Law Enforcement Officer Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Multimillion Dollar Scheme to Defraud COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Program". It announces that U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Richard Hebert, Jr., 57, of Harvey, Louisiana, to 84 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered $2,450,639.93 in restitution to the SBA, after his conviction for making a false statement to a bank. The release states that between April of 2020 and July of 2020 he submitted at least 12 fraudulent PPP applications for seven companies to five banks seeking more than $4.2 million, using false tax forms. It states that the government seized proceeds, a New Orleans residence and vehicles including a Rolls Royce.

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United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Richard Hebert, Jr., age 57, of Harvey, Louisiana, to 84 months in federal prison following his conviction for making a false statement to a bank in connection with numerous fraudulent applications that he filed to obtain funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The Court further sentenced Hebert to serve three years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment and ordered him to pay $2,450,639.93 in restitution to the United States Small Business Administration. Previously in the investigation, the United States seized a significant share of the proceeds from the offense, as well as a residence in New Orleans, and three vehicles, including a 2013 Ghost Rolls Royce, a Lexus ES 350, and Ford F-250.
According to court documents, between April of 2020 and July of 2020, Hebert submitted at least 12 fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of seven different companies to five different banks seeking more than $4.2 million in PPP loan funds, that were designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On these applications, Hebert made false representations regarding his businesses and their operations. In support of these fraudulent applications, Hebert created false tax forms and other documents, which included the real personal identifiable information of people to facilitate his crime. Hebert’s pandemic fraud scheme caused a loss of more than $2.4 million.
United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe stated, “This strong sentence is a testament to the significant crime that this former law enforcement officer committed. Hebert was trained to serve and protect but instead he took advantage of a government safety net program to line his own pockets during the worst pandemic in over a century. Prosecuting pandemic fraud is a high priority for our office and we will continue to use every resource available to investigate and prosecute those who commit this type of crime. I want to commend our prosecutors and the team of agents for their diligent work in bringing this defendant to justice.”
This matter was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the United States Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica M.P. Thornhill, who also serves as the Deputy Chief of the Economic Crime Unit, M. Patricia Jones, who also serves as the Appellate Chief, and Brad Casey.
Anyone with information about allegations of pandemic fraud can report it by calling the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at
www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form
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