New Jersey Women Mastermind $145,625 Bank Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme Targeting US Government: DOJ

Two women are facing years behind bars for orchestrating a bank fraud and money laundering scheme that took advantage of the US government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The Justice Department says Kisha Sutton of Jersey City and Shamiese Wright of Charleston, West Virginia, have been found guilty of aiding and abetting bank fraud and aiding and abetting money laundering.

The duo conspired to obtain a fraudulent $15,625 Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan on behalf of Wright. 

The loan is guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the CARES Act, which was enacted to provide financial relief to qualified sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sutton submitted the PPP loan application on Wright’s behalf on April 19th, 2021 claiming that Wright is a self-employed individual who received $75,000 in gross income in 2020.

But the evidence presented at trial showed that Wright was not self-employed, did not earn $75,000 in any year and had received unemployment benefits in 2020. It also showed that the IRS Form 1040 that was submitted with Wright’s application was fraudulent and created for the sole purpose of obtaining the loan.

Wright received the $15,625 in fraudulent loan proceeds on her personal bank account around May 7th, 2021 after a PPP lender in Florida approved the loan application.

She then used a digital wallet app to transfer $3,000 to Sutton for the latter’s role in the scheme. The DOJ says that Wright staggered her payment and used misleading transfer descriptions to conceal and disguise the nature and source of the funds.

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