A 30-year-old man was slammer-bound for his role in a COVID-19 relief funds scam, sentenced to 42 months in the big house by a federal court in Seattle. Donte McClellon, a former Seattle resident turned New York City slicker, drew the ire of U.S. District Court after cooking up a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to the tune of over half a million dollars, reportedly confirmed by U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.
McClellon was convicted on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. During his sentencing, Judge Lauren King didn't mince words about the gravity of McClellon's ploy, noting to the court that his actions siphoned off resources earmarked for real businesses in distress, padding his pockets with ill-gotten gains. Without a shred of contrition, according to Judge King, McClellon blew stacks on personal luxuries instead of backing the employees his bogus claims mentioned.
The shifty tactics pulled by McClellon involved forging documents to extract $500,948 from three financial institutions using dormant LLCs he set up back in Washington—'Frostlake,' 'Cannonlake,' and 'Skylake.' According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, these ghost companies hadn’t shown any signs of life in state or federal records before the pandemic. Nevertheless, this did not deter McClellon from claiming up to 13 employees and gross receipts north of $1.6 million.
Authorities pieced together McClellon's trail of deceit, finding the funds went to bank accounts he had opened just before hitting the PPP jackpot, ultimately coalescing in his personal account. McClellon didn't just use the ill-gotten gains for any semblance of business activities—a Manhattan apartment's rent, gym memberships, and enough Uber rides to total $20,000 were on his ledger instead.
Investigation gurus from the FBI Seattle Field Division and FBI New York, with assistance from the Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General, brought McClellon's game to an unceremonious end. Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren Watts Staniar, Jessica Murphy Manca, and Krista Bush were the legal eagles who prosecuted the case, putting another fraudster away and sending a sobering signal to any would-be scammers that the federal government's generosity in a crisis is not for personal enrichment.
