Nearly a dozen individuals from Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Washington are facing charges in connection with a $220,000 scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program.
The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the District of Western Missouri has announced that it has indicted and charged 11 defendants from Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Washington. These individuals played a role in a conspiracy that led to over $220,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans.
According to court records, the individuals listed below have been charged in a 13-count indictment. The indictment was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on February 6.
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- Daisha Sanders, 32, formerly of Blue Springs, Mo., currently of Royse, Texas
- Joel Wright, 34, formerly of Blue Springs, Mo., currently of Royse, Texas
- Denise Sanders, 60, of Royse, Texas
- Shaquille Fielder, 31, of Kansas City, Mo.,
- Jordan Nichols, 30, of North Kansas City, Mo.,
- Kiandra Crowe, 33, of Grandview, Mo.,
- Alfred Hayes IV, 29, of Overland Park, Kan.
- Luana McNurlin, 36, of St. Louis, Mo.,
- Rashonda Golden, 34, of Tacoma, Wash.,
- Roxanne Nazir, 38, of Arlington, Texas
- Jeffrey Chillis, 30, of Corpus Christi, Texas
According to court records, the indictment became public on Thursday after being unsealed following the arrests of nine individuals. The defendants, including Crowe, Hayes, McNurlin, Fielder, both Sanders women, Wright, Nazir, and Chillis, were involved. On Thursday, half of them had their initial court appearance, while the remaining half are scheduled to appear on Friday.
The indictment accuses all the defendants of conspiring to submit fraudulent applications for PPP loans from February 2021 to July 2022. It is alleged that they collectively caused over $220,000 in fraudulent loans to be issued to borrowers who were ineligible. Interestingly, most of these loans were forgiven, despite the funds not being used for PPP-specific purposes.
Daisha Sanders is accused of generating loan applications for herself and her accomplices, receiving payment from the loan funds in return. These applications contained misleading information, falsely claiming either sole proprietorship prior to the pandemic or exaggerated revenues for existing businesses in 2019. To substantiate these applications, Sanders also fabricated bank records, IRS forms, and other fraudulent financial documents.
According to court records, Daisha was responsible for submitting the loan applications. Once the loans were approved and funded, she would receive payments of up to $5,000 from her co-conspirators for her role in creating and submitting the fraudulent applications.
Sanders has been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, in addition to a separate count of wire fraud. The other defendants are charged with aiding and abetting in the wire fraud conspiracy. It is alleged that each defendant applied for a PPP loan of approximately $20,833.
Sanders has also been charged with an additional count of money laundering, according to court records. The indictment further claims that she would be required to forfeit any proceeds she obtained from the alleged offense, including a money judgment of $70,832.
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