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On May 9, 2025, YASIR G. HAMED, 60, of Woodbridge, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to offenses stemming from a scheme to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program of more than $2.3 million.

NEW ORLEANS – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that BRANDON JARROW (“JARROW”) (aka Brandi Jarrow), age 33, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on May 8, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to theft of government funds and to making false statements, related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

Lobbying organization Governmental Advocates Inc. has self‑disclosed its ineligibility for the Paycheck Protection Program loan it obtained and voluntarily paid more than $200,000 to resolve civil claims regarding the loan.

Baltimore , Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced David Epstein, 46, of Owings Mills, Maryland, to one year and one day in federal prison and 12 months of home incarceration. The sentence is in connection with his previous guilty plea to one count of wire fraud for submitting fraudulent CARES Act loan applications.

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven has sentenced Jeanty Cherilus (54, Lakeland) to one year and six months in federal prison for wire fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $370,000, the proceeds of Cherilus’s criminal conduct. Cherilus pleaded guilty on January 22, 2025.

Raisha Kelly, 44, of Loxahatchee, FL was sentenced to sixty months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $443,895 in restitution by United States District Court Judge Federico A. Moreno. The sentence follows Kelly’s conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this Evaluation Report to determine whether the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) made Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in accordance with program size standards. This is a follow-up to our earlier report which identified 355 PPP loans that likely exceeded the maximum size standard and may have been erroneously approved. Based on updated data analysis, we identified that 79 of those 355 loans still appeared to exceed the maximum size standard. Our objective was to determine whether PPP loans were made in accordance with program...