Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) - A North Las Vegas man was sentenced to 19 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for submitting at least 56 fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of himself and others totaling more than $1.1 million dollars over the course of more than six months.
According to court documents, on March 17, 2021, 25-year-old Jaquari Davonte Woodward submitted a fraudulent loan application in his own name, and when he was successful in obtaining $20,833 in fraudulent funds (the maximum available), he advertised on social media by posting the amount of fraudulent proceeds he had received and offered to do the same for others in exchange for a $10,000 fee payment for each successful application.
In each of these fraudulent applications, Woodward provided false financial information, often for fake companies or companies which did not exist during the qualifying time period, and he created fictitious IRS Form 1040 Schedules C.
Altogether, from March 2021 to October 2021, Woodward submitted at least 56 fraudulent applications in his own name and the names of others, and he caused over $1.1 million in loss to PPP lenders and the Small Business Administration.
Woodward pleaded guilty to wire fraud. In addition to imprisonment, he was ordered to pay $1,264,252.02 in restitution to PPP lenders and the Small Business Administration.