Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Date: 05-17-2024
Case Style:
Case Number: 3:23-cr-00081
Judge: Rebecca Grady Jennings
Court: The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky (Jefferson County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Louisville, Kentucky
Defendant's Attorney: Patrick J. Renn
Description:
Louisville Woman Sentenced to Over 1 Year in Federal Prison for CARES Act Fraud
Darlene McCoy, 67, was sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison, followed by a 3-year term of supervised release, for four counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and two counts of money laundering related to fraud involving the CARES Act financial assistance program.
McCoy was also ordered to pay $165,416 in restitution.
McCoy filed, or caused to be filed, one fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and three applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans between June 18, 2020, and May 19, 2021, seeking more than $182,000 and resulting in the theft of $165,416. McCoy utilized the entities Letz Get It Crackin’, LLC and Darlene McCoy d/b/a Reds Creative Events to file the applications. McCoy organized Letz Get It Crackin’ after the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic and did not register the entity Darlene McCoy with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. McCoy falsely exaggerated the number of employees, revenue, cost of goods sold, and payroll expenses of those entities in the fraudulent applications and provided false tax forms in support of the applications.
This case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Elver prosecuted the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Outcome:
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: