U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis-area contractor to three years in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining $1.7 million in pandemic relief loans and ordered her to repay the full amount.
Coretta “Cory” Elliott, 53, owned and operated CMT LLC, a contractor providing commercial construction, demolition, roofing, landscaping, and remediation services. The company also operated as CMT Roofing LLC. Court records show Elliott secured a first-draw Paycheck Protection Program loan of $875,000 in 2020 and a second-draw loan of $833,333 in 2021 by falsely certifying that the funds would be used for legitimate business purposes. Prosecutors said she inflated her company’s monthly payroll figures to qualify for larger loan amounts.
Authorities said Elliott later obtained forgiveness of both loans by submitting two additional applications claiming the funds were spent on payroll and other approved business expenses…