RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A former candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates was sentenced to two years in prison for fraudulently applying for and receiving over $220,000 in federal loans from a program designed to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she is appealing that sentence.
In early 2025, a federal grand jury handed down an indictment for former Democratic candidate Sheila Bynum-Coleman in connection with a scheme to defraud the federal government of at least $225,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. This scheme also reportedly involved her husband, Rashad Coleman.
Most recently, Bynum-Coleman was the Democratic candidate in the Nov. 2019 General Election for the Virginia House of Delegates’ District 66, which then contained parts of Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights. She lost to Republican candidate Kirk Cox…