By Staff Reporter | iSkyCreations – News & Media (ISC News & Media)
Published Feb 17th 2024
In a significant crackdown on pandemic relief fraud, a federal jury in Atlanta has found a man and woman guilty of participating in a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of over $11 million. Teldrin Foster, 42, from Decatur, and Carla Jackson, 55, from Tucker, faced charges stemming from their involvement in fraudulent activities aimed at exploiting the government’s COVID-19 relief efforts.
Foster was convicted on multiple counts, including bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured financial institution, and money laundering, related to 14 fraudulent loan applications. Jackson was found guilty of two counts of money laundering, specifically linked to laundering the proceeds of a PPP loan.
The court documents reveal that between April and August 2020, Foster, Jackson, and their co-conspirators submitted or helped to submit PPP loan applications for 14 businesses, each seeking approximately $800,000 in relief funds. These applications falsely certified the operational status of the businesses, the employment of workers, and the intended use of the funds, among other details. To support their claims, the co-conspirators included fraudulent IRS Form 941s to report non-existent payroll expenses.