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Omaha Man Gets 70 Months for COVID Loan Scam
Omaha, NE – In a brazen scheme to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, 60-year-old Ramel D. Thompson of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. United States District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher handed down the sentence on April 25, 2024, in federal court in Omaha.
Thompson, who will begin a 3-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, was also ordered to pay $2,518,556.75 in restitution for the loans and grants he and his co-conspirators actually acquired. The loans were obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs, which were created or expanded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans affected by the pandemic.
Between 2020 and 2021, Thompson provided direction and assistance to others in preparing and submitting applications containing material misrepresentations to obtain inflated PPP and EIDL loans and grants on behalf of their businesses. He also submitted one fraudulent application for a loan on his own behalf, but it was not funded.
Thompson’s scheme involved inflating the amount of the loans for which his and others’ businesses would qualify by overstating on applications what the businesses had paid in past compensation or had received in revenue, and/or by understating the expenses the businesses had incurred. He also created and assisted in creating phony documents in support of applications, including false tax documents that were not filed with the IRS.
The fraudulent applications that Thompson helped prepare and submit sought loans and grants totaling approximately $5,844,999, and co-conspirators obtained $2,442,616. The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established by the Attorney General in May 2021, is tasked with investigating and prosecuting pandemic-related fraud and preventing future scams.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General.
Key Facts
- State: Nebraska
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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