Greer PPP Crook Gets 6+ Years

⏱ 3 min read

Jonathan Wade Sumter, 54, is going back to the slammer after a federal judge hit him with over six years for a brazen scheme to steal over $1.8 million in Covid-19 relief funds. The scam, unfolding between June 2020 and January 2022, involved bogus applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) money, using fake companies to funnel the cash.

Sumter ran the operation with his twin brother, Jason Elijah Sumter, and accomplice Gerothia McCullough. They created shell companies – Living Water Outreach, High Consulting, GSM Home Care – and submitted loan applications built on lies: phantom payrolls, inflated expenses, and outright fabrication. They raked in $1.8 million before the feds started digging.

Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Sumter to 80 months, but it won’t add to his current time. He’s already serving 92 months for a 2023 healthcare fraud conviction. Jason Sumter caught three years, and McCullough got one. But the Justice Department isn’t stopping at jail time.

Sumter is on the hook for $1,802,741 in restitution. Jason Sumter has to pay $739,786 and forfeit a property in Orangeburg County. McCullough faces a $478,366 bill and asset forfeiture, too. Consider it a start towards repaying taxpayers for their greed.