U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Houston Woman Pleads Guilty to Cares Act Fraud and Theft of Government Funds (USAO ED-LA 09/13/2023) (2023-09-14)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, dated Wednesday, September 13, 2023, announcing that Temika Santemore, age 43, of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on September 12, 2023 before U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to a two-count bill of information charging making false statements and theft of government funds related to the CARES Act. According to the charging documents, Santemore made false statements to the SBA to obtain pandemic relief loans, including PPP funds of approximately $13,540. The release states that Santemore also applied for an EIDL in July of 2020 and received $5,000 for a dormant business. Sentencing is set for December 12, 2023, with up to five years on the false statements count and up to ten years on the theft count.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Houston Woman Pleads Guilty to
Cares Act Fraud and Theft of
Government Funds
Wednesday, September 13, 2023


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

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that TEMIKA
SANTEMORE, age 43, a resident of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on September 12,
2023 before U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to a two-count bill of information charging
her with making false statements and theft of government funds related to the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency
financial assistance in connection with economic effects of the COVID-19
pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of up
to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other
expenses, through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). In April 2020, Congress
authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding.

The PPP allows qualifying small businesses and other organizations to receive loans with
a maturity of two years and an interest rate of 1%. PPP loan proceeds must be used by
businesses on payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. The PPP allows
the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if the business spends the loan
proceeds on these expense items within a designated period of time after receiving the
proceeds and uses at least a certain percentage of the PPP loan proceeds on payroll
expenses.

In addition, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) program was a U.S. Small
Business Administration (SBA) program that provided low-interest financing to small
businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions affected by declared disasters. The
CARES Act provided funding for EIDL loans for business affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. In contrast to the PPP, EIDL loan amounts were determined based on the
recipient businesses’ historical revenue and disbursed directly to the recipient by the
SBA.

According to the charging documents, SANTEMORE made false statements to the SBA
for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining pandemic-related relief loans funded by the
federal government, including PPP funds, which she received in the amount of
approximately $13,540. SANTEMORE also applied for an EIDL from the SBA in July of
2020 and illegally received $5,000 for a dormant business that she owned.

Sentencing is set for December 12, 2023. SANTEMORE faces a sentence of up to five
years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and up to three years of supervised release for
the false statements count. She faces up to ten years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines,
and up to three years of supervised release for the theft count. There is also a $100
mandatory special assessment fee for each count due after conviction.

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.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General –
Criminal Investigations, the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.

Contact
Shane M. Jones

Public Information Officer

United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

United States Department of Justice

Updated September 13, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS
FINANCIAL FRAUD
Components
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Louisiana, Eastern


File and source

File

2023-09-14-Houston-Woman-Pleads-Guilty-to-Cares-Act-Fraud-and-Theft-of-Government-Funds-USAO-ED-LA-09-13-2023.pdf

Size

511,036 bytes

SHA-256

300b3c156156b4f400ccb90a0ad39bd8f732e875449a9f3aaecb5c6d917c8d57

Our copy

2023-09-14-Houston-Woman-Pleads-Guilty-to-Cares-Act-Fraud-and-Theft-of-Government-Funds-USAO-ED-LA-09-13-2023.pdf

Original

www.oig.dol.gov