Ringleader of Payment Protection Program Fraud Scheme Sentenced

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, dated May 2, 2025. United States District Court Judge Federico A. Moreno sentenced Raisha Kelly of Loxahatchee to sixty months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered $443,895 in restitution, after a conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. The release says Kelly recruited others to submit Payment Protection Program (PPP) applications that falsely stated the applicants had sole proprietorship businesses and annual revenue, supported by falsified tax returns, in return for a 25 percent kickback. It states that at trial Kelly was shown to have made approximately $106,649 from the conspiracy involving thirteen individuals.

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PRESS RELEASE


Ringleader of Payment Protection
Program Fraud Scheme Sentenced to Five
Years in Prison
Friday, May 2, 2025

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

MIAMI – Raisha Kelly, 44, of Loxahatchee, FL was sentenced to sixty months in prison
followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $443,895 in restitution
by United States District Court Judge Federico A. Moreno. The sentence follows Kelly’s
conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

Kelly recruited and conspired with multiple individuals to submit Payment Protection
Program (PPP) loan applications that falsely and fraudulently misrepresented that the
applicants had sole proprietorship businesses, and the amount of annual revenue received
by these purported sole proprietorship businesses. In support of these applications on
behalf of each individual, Kelly submitted falsified tax returns. Kelly orchestrated this
scheme in return for a 25 percent kickback from the loan applicants. Kelly concealed her
involvement in the scheme by creating a series of “dummy” email accounts for herself and
each of the applicants—all to entirely disguise her own involvement in the false and
fraudulent application. Kelly also applied for her own PPP loans in which she also falsely
and fraudulently mispresented the amount of income her own business received. At trial,
it was proven that the defendant made approximately $106,649 as a result of
orchestrating this conspiracy involving thirteen individuals.

U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida; Acting Inspector in
Charge Steven L. Hodges of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Miami Division;
Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, U.S. Small Business Administration
Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG), Eastern Region; and Special Agent in Charge
Mathew Broadhurst of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-
OIG), Southeast Region, made the announcement.

USPIS, SBA-OIG, and DOL-OIG investigated the case.
Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel Bernstein, Eduardo Gardea Jr., and Gabrielle
Charest-Turken prosecuted it.

In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was
enacted. It was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of
Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among
other sources of relief, the CARES Act authorized and provided funding to the SBA to
provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans (“EIDLs”) to eligible small businesses, including
sole proprietorships and independent contractors, experiencing substantial financial
disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to meet financial obligations
and operating expenses that could otherwise have been met had the disaster not
occurred. EIDL applications were submitted directly to the SBA via the SBA’s on-line
application website, and the applications were processed and the loans funded for
qualifying applicants directly by the SBA.

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.

On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the Southern District of Florida’s
U.S. Attorney’s Office to head one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams.
The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to
combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. For more information on the
department’s response to the pandemic, please click 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.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District
Court     for    the    Southern    District  of  Florida   at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or
at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-20079.
                               ###

Contact
Public Affairs Unit

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Florida

USAFLS.News@usdoj.gov

Updated May 2, 2025

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

DISASTER FRAUD

MORTGAGE FRAUD
Component
USAO - Florida, Southern


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