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HONOLULU – Acting United States Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson announced that Martin Kao, 51, of Honolulu, was sentenced today in federal court by Senior United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi to 87 months imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised released for COVID-relief wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud.

Patrick Strauss, 54, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 48 months of probation – including six months of home confinement to be followed by a period of intermittent incarceration, that is, 26 weekends in jail – and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $304,900 and fined $8,784, all for participating in a conspiracy that fraudulently obtained more than $304,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced Victor Ojo, 30, of Belcamp, Maryland, to 72 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Victor Ojo received the sentence for aggravated identity theft and his role in an attempted bank-fraud scheme that had an intended loss amount of $1.5 million.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Following four days of testimony before a federal jury, a Raleigh man and business owner pled guilty to a Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud, that netted the man almost $300,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Act (PPP) COVID-19 loans. This fraud was part of a multimillion-dollar national scheme, and, to date, more than 30 defendants have pled guilty and 26 have been sentenced.

YASIR G. HAMED, 59, of Woodbridge, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with offenses stemming from an alleged scheme to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

SAN DIEGO – After an eight-day trial, a federal jury has convicted Denny Thakorbhai Bhakta on all 25 counts of securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in connection with a $35 million dollar investment fraud scheme and COVID-relief fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Larry Jordan, 45, of Lancaster, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud for his participation in a scheme to file fraudulent loan applications seeking forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, joined the announcement. # # # #

NEWARK, N.J. – A former resident of Monmouth County admitted his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds.

BOSTON – A Lawrence woman was sentenced in federal court in Boston for using stolen identities of taxpayers and businesspeople to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a bank, and the Small Business Administration (SBA).