The owner of three businesses, 50-year-old Jodi Aliece Jennings of Junction City, Oregon, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing over $487,386.75 in federal funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Junction City Woman Pleads Guilty To Stealing COVID Funds
On June 15, 2023, a federal grand jury in Eugene returned an indictment charging Jennings with nine counts of wire fraud for misappropriating COVID funds intended to help small businesses.
Court documents indicate that she applied for and obtained six Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) Advance and submitted three fraudulent forgiveness applications for Meridian Redevelopment, J Jenn Enterprises Inc., and J2 Investments between April 2020 and January 2022.
Jennings used these loans for personal expenses after falsely claiming that the three companies were in business and had paid payroll before and during the pandemic. She stole at least $487,386.75, including the EIDL advance and principal, interest, and SBA-paid lender fees on the PPPs…