by Morgan Sweeney
So far this year, the Eastern District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia has secured convictions in 14 cases of COVID fraud, where defendants were responsible for more than $11.3 million in calculated loss, Karoline Foote, a spokesperson for the office, told The Center Square.
In March, a Georgia woman by the name of Nikki Mitchum was sentenced to 51 months in prison for conspiring with others in Hampton to obtain millions of dollars in COVID-relief Economic Injury Disaster loans and Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to a press release from the office.
Mitchum was involved with 34 fraudulent loan applications for falsely represented businesses and is linked with an intended fraud loss of more than $5.8 million. “[She] has agreed to pay approximately $1.8 million in restitution to the United States for actual losses from her role in the conspiracy,” according to the release.
Another significant case from this year involved two men from Manassas and Bealton who pleaded guilty in May to, similarly, taking advantage of the EID and PPP loan programs.
They attempted to secure more than $7 million in COVID relief funds, according to another release from the office.
They “falsified payroll records, created fake IRS business tax returns and submitted to lenders and the SBA (Small Business Administration) falsified revenue reports of multiple companies,” the release said.
Their sentencing is scheduled for August 25.
In 2021 and 2022, the Eastern District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia charged more than 80 defendants in cases of COVID-19-related schemes to defraud the government and taxpayers of approximately $130 million.
“Our country has been dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic for over two years now, but there is still considerable work to be done. We continue to uncover more CARES Act fraud almost every day,” said Jessica Aber, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, in a statement in late 2022.
In addition, in 2021, the Newport News Financial Crimes Task Force partnered with the EDVA, a regional FBI field office, and a regional office of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in an ongoing operation targeting criminal organizations and networks active in the Virginia Peninsula region, who have capitalized on COVID relief efforts to fund illicit activities. By October 2022, the multi-agency force had convicted and sentenced 24 fraudsters, resulting in more than $1.5 million of court-ordered restitution.
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Morgan Sweeney is a staff writer covering Virginia and Maryland for The Center Square. Morgan was an active member of the journalism program as an undergraduate at Hillsdale College and previously freelanced for The Center Square.
