Charleston Woman Sentenced for Role in COVID-19 Fraud Conspiracy

Summary

A U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia press release dated 2025-08-21 announcing that United States District Judge Irene C. Berger sentenced Jasmine Spencer of Charleston to six months of home detention and three years of supervised release, and ordered $15,625 in restitution, for aiding and abetting bank fraud. According to the release, co-defendant Kisha Sutton submitted a PPP application on Spencer's behalf listing her as a sole proprietor hair stylist with $75,000 in 2020 gross income, supported by a fraudulent IRS Form 1040. It states that a California lender deposited $15,625 on June 28, 2021 and Spencer sent $3,000 to Sutton. The indictment alleges loans totaling $140,625; Sutton was found guilty at trial on July 15, 2025. Case No. 2:24-cr-192.

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“Charleston Woman Sentenced for Role in COVID-19 Fraud Conspiracy.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-08-21-charleston-woman-sentenced-for-role-in-covid-19-fraud-consp-b36bd8aa74/, SHA-256 b1b7d186b06b27ee41e7e2f1b127d57ba796b26544eeddde2059c5ab473f4a06.

Full text

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Jasmine Spencer, 32, of Charleston, was sentenced today to six months of home detention, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $15,625 in restitution for aiding and abetting bank fraud. Spencer admitted that she received $15,625 in proceeds from a criminally derived Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan, guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
According to court documents and statements made in court, co-defendant Kisha Sutton conspired with Spencer and others to obtain fraudulent PPP loans. Sutton submitted a PPP loan application on Spencer’s behalf of May 27, 2021, listing Spencer as a sole proprietor hair stylist who received $75,000 in gross income in 2020. The application was filed with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040, Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business, stating that Spencer had earned $75,000 in 2020. As part of her guilty plea, Spencer admitted that she never earned $75,000 as a hair stylist in one year. Sutton further admitted that the IRS Form 1040 submitted with her application was fraudulent and created solely to obtain the PPP loan.
A PPP lender in California approved Spencer’s loan application. The $15,625 in proceeds from the fraudulent loan was deposited in Spencer’s personal bank accounts on June 28, 2021. Between June 30 and July 9, 2021, Spencer transferred $3,000 of the fraudulent loan proceeds to Sutton using a digital wallet application. Spencer admitted that she spent the remainder of the fraudulent loan proceeds on personal expenses.
The CARES Act made forgivable PPP loans available to qualifying sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to replace their normal income and for certain other expenses. Applicants were required to certify that they were in operation on February 15, 2020, and provide documentation showing their prior gross income from either 2019 or 2020.
Spencer and Sutton are among several individuals indicted by a federal grand jury on charges alleging they and others conspired, as well as aided and abetted one another, to obtain fraudulent PPP loans totaling $140,625. On July 15, 2025, Sutton was found guilty of aiding and abetting bank fraud and aiding and abetting laundering of monetary instruments by a federal jury following a two-day trial. Sutton, 44, of Jersey City, New Jersey, is scheduled to be sentenced on November 13, 2025. Powell and the three remaining co-defendants pleaded guilty.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia State Police – Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU).
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan T. Storage and Jennifer D. Gordon and former Assistant United States Attorney Holly Wilson prosecuted the case.
Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at:
https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form
.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the
U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on
PACER
by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-192.
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