The Department of Justice has continued its efforts to hold to account individuals and organizations that engaged in fraud relating to COVID-19 relief funds.
A federal jury in Detroit convicted a Michigan man on charges of wire fraud and money laundering relating to a scheme to obtain over $4.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds, including money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) which were guaranteed through the Small Business Administration (SBA).
According to the court documents and evidence presented at trial, Johnny Ho engaged in a conspiracy to submit falsified PPP and EIDL loan applications in order to obtain COVID-19 relief funds that he was not entitled to receive.
Ho, who owned a small business in Michigan, submitted inflated payroll information and falsified loan application information. He personally submitted two fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications seeking nearly $350,000 in funds that were intended to help small businesses and their employees impacted by the pandemic. In total, Ho and his co-conspirators submitted 29 different fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications on behalf of 16 businesses totaling over $4.1 million.
Ho was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
In Oregon, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a real estate developer with fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.
According to the indictment, Michael DeFrees allegedly used two business entities to illegally obtain, under false pretenses, EIDL and PPP loans from the SBA between April 2020 and April 2022.
He was charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.