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Date: 12-21-2022

Case Style:

United States of America v. Juliana Martins

Case Number: 1:21-cr-00035

Judge: John J. McConnell, Jr.

Court: United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island (Providence County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office

Defendant's Attorney:




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Description: Providence, Rhode Island criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with making false statements when applying for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage, a Small Business Association (SBA) loan, and for fraudulently applying for government-funded COVID unemployment benefits.




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In March 2022, Juliana Martins, 53, admitted to a federal judge that, while simultaneously on federal supervised release for her role in a stolen identity and refund scheme, as well as state probation for an unrelated 2014 conviction for forgery and counterfeiting, Martins applied for an FHA-guaranteed loan. As part of the application process, she provided false explanations about gaps in her employment history, claiming that she was unemployed due to a “family emergency,” when in fact she had been incarcerated and serving an earlier federal sentence. claiming she was Martins also failed to disclose the fact that she was subject to a $385,533 federal restitution order.

Following the application, Martins and a co-borrower were issued an FHA-insured mortgage in the amount of $265,109.

Additionally, Martins admitted that in July 2020, she submitted a fraudulent application for a Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest COVID-related Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), falsely claiming that she was an independent contractor in the health service business, and that her business had been impacted by the pandemic. Finally, Martins admitted that she fraudulently applied for and received COVID-related unemployment insurance benefits in April 2020, while she was in fact employed as an office manager. In total, Martins received over $40,000 in COVID relief benefits to which she was not entitled.

Martins pleaded guilty on March 2, 2020, to making a false statement on a loan application and theft of government property. Martins was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Chief John J. McConnell, Jr., to eighteen months in prison and three years of federal supervised release. The defendant was ordered to pay restitution totaling $43,537.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys G. Michael Seaman and Sandra R. Hebert.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General; U.S.
Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General; FBI; and Rhode Island State Police, with the assistance of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training Unemployment Insurance Fraud Unit.

18 U.S.C. §1014. Loan and credit applications generally; renewals and discounts; crop insurance

Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or report, or willfully overvalues any land, property or security, for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of the Farm Credit Administration, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation or a company the Corporation reinsures, the Secretary of Agriculture acting through the Farmers Home Administration or successor agency, the Rural Development Administration or successor agency, any Farm Credit Bank, production credit association, agricultural credit association, bank for cooperatives, or any division, officer, or employee thereof, or of any regional agricultural credit corporation established pursuant to law, or a Federal land bank, a Federal land bank association, a Federal Reserve bank, a small business investment company, as defined in section 103 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 662), or the Small Business Administration in connection with any provision of that Act, a Federal credit union, an insured State-chartered credit union, any institution the accounts of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Thrift Supervision, any Federal home loan bank, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation, the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation, or the National Credit Union Administration Board, a branch or agency of a foreign bank (as such terms are defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978), or an organization operating under section 25 or section 25(a) 1 of the Federal Reserve Act, upon any application, advance, discount, purchase, purchase agreement, repurchase agreement, commitment, or loan, or any change or extension of any of the same, by renewal, deferment of action or otherwise, or the acceptance, release, or substitution of security therefor, shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both. The term “State-chartered credit union” includes a credit union chartered under the laws of a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment as to Counts 1 and 2, to be served concurrently; 3 years of Supervised Release with special conditions as to Counts 1 and 2, to be served concurrently; $200 Special Assessment; No Fine; $43,537.00 in Restitution.

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