Teldrin Foster, PPP Loan Fraud, Georgia 2020

Teldrin Foster and Carla Jackson were found guilty by a jury for their roles in schemes to steal Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) funds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Atlanta, Georgia.

Foster was charged with 14 counts of wire fraud, six counts of bank fraud, 14 counts of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, six counts of making a false statement to a federally insured financial institution, and one count of money laundering. Jackson was charged with two counts of money laundering.

The PPP loan applications reported that each business had between 59 and 69 employees and approximately $295,000 to $342,000 in average monthly payroll expenses. To support these payroll figures, each business’s loan application was accompanied by an Internal Revenue Service Form 941, which employers use to report payroll taxes, for each quarter of 2019 and by a bank statement or a spreadsheet reflecting payroll expenses. But none of the businesses had employees or payroll expenses.

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, a second superseding indictment, and other information presented in court: from April 2020 through August 2020, Teldrin Foster worked with co-defendant Darrell Thomas and others to fraudulently obtain at least 14 fraudulent loans. Each of the businesses obtained a PPP loan between $700,000 and $850,000, for a total of over $11.1 million.

Foster and Jackson were charged in a 16-defendant indictment containing 63 felony counts, alleging numerous conspiracies among defendants. This indictment is part of a wide-ranging investigation into PPP fund theft that has resulted in the convictions of 23 of 24 defendants charged during the investigation. A final defendant’s case remains pending.

“These defendants brazenly stole pandemic relief funds intended for struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said United States Attorney Ryan K Buchanan. “This investigation has produced charges against 24 defendants and secured guilty verdicts by a jury of the only two defendants to proceed to trial thus far.

Foster and Jackson were convicted on all counts after a seven-day trial. Their actions affected every tax-paying citizen in this country and took away from government funds that were intended to provide relief to small businesses and employees who desperately needed it during the pandemic.

Teldrin Foster and Carla Jackson are currently in custody awaiting sentencing. The exact date of sentencing has not been released.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/paycheck-protection-program-fraud-defendants-convicted-following-jury-trial