Man Sentenced for Cares Act Fraud and Money Laundering

Summary

A U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana press release dated 2026-03-05 announcing that United States District Judge Jay C. Zainey sentenced Irvin C. Francois, III of New Orleans to three years of probation and 50 hours of community service after his guilty plea to making false statements and money laundering related to the CARES Act. According to court records cited in the release, on or about March 24, 2021 Francois made false statements to an approved lender on behalf of a business he owned to obtain a PPP loan of approximately $144,790. It states that he laundered the money by buying an automobile from a dealership in Kenner, Louisiana. He was ordered to pay $153,171.95 in restitution to the SBA.

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“Man Sentenced for Cares Act Fraud and Money Laundering.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2026-03-05-new-orleans-man-sentenced-for-cares-act-fraud-and-money-lau-7d006c2191/, SHA-256 210eddd62c1966e54559e1c37e875f4a47ce10b0aa52d15aa613fd9dcfb5498c.

Full text

NEW ORLEANS –
IRVIN C. FRANCOIS, III (“FRANCOIS”)
, age 54, of New Orleans, was sentenced by United States District Judge Jay C. Zainey, after previously pleading guilty to making false statements, and money laundering related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
On March 27, 2020, the President of the United States signed into law the CARES Act, which provided emergency assistance, administered by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), to small business owners affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. One of the primary sources of funding for small businesses was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
According to court records, on or about March 24, 2021,
FRANCOIS
,
on behalf of a business that he owned, made false statements to an approved lender to obtain approximately $144,790 for a PPP loan.
FRANCOIS
then committed money laundering by using these ill-gotten funds to buy an automobile from a dealership in Kenner, Louisiana.
In addition to three years of probation,
FRANCOIS
was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and ordered to pay $153,171.95 in restitution to the Small Business Administration and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee for each count.
For more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please visit
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
.
This case was investigated by an agent assigned to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force. The PRAC was established to serve the American public by promoting transparency and facilitating coordinated oversight of the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC’s 21 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. The PRAC Fraud Task Force brings together agents from 15 Inspectors General to investigate fraud involving a variety of programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program. Task force agents who are detailed to the PRAC receive expanded authority to investigate pandemic fraud as well as tools and training to support their investigations.
U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - Office of Inspector General (a member of the PRAC) and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit was in charge of the prosecution.

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Our copy: 2026-03-05_new-orleans-man-sentenced-for-cares-act-fraud-and-money-laundering_fb2827c4.md.txt
Original: www.justice.gov