A former Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) employee has been charged with fraud in connection with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Tuesday. Cory Fox, 50, of Oak Forest, Illinois, is facing allegations of fraudulently receiving over $46,000 through two separate PPP loans intended to assist small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Facing a litany of charges, including theft by deception and loan fraud, both Class 2 felonies carrying a potential sentence of up to seven years in prison, Fox also confronts three counts of forgery and one count of income tax fraud with each former being a Class 3 felony punishable by up to five years and the latter, a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison. His next court date is set for August 7, and, as always in the U.S. justice system, until proven guilty in a court of law, the presumption of innocence remains.
The accusations as laid out by Attorney General Raoul's office, which were detailed in an announcement on the Attorney General’s website, state that Fox deceitfully applied for the first PPP loan on February 19, 2021, for a sum of $18,355, claiming an average monthly payroll of $7,342, and later receiving loan forgiveness arguing a majority of the funds were utilized for payroll costs. The second alleged fraudulent loan application was for $28,115 and was secured on April 9, 2021, with Fox claiming an average monthly payroll of $8,033. The office is prosecuting this case with evidence referred by the Office of the Executive Inspector General.
Raoul expressed his disdain for the misuse of critical pandemic relief aid, asserting, "COVID-era assistance programs were vital for the survival of millions of unemployed Americans and small businesses. It is unconscionable any individual – especially those employed by state and local government agencies who work on behalf of Illinois taxpayers – would take advantage of these programs for their own financial gain," Employing a resolved stance on upholding integrity, Raoul's office has not shied away from bringing charges against current and former government employees involved in similar fraudulent activities including but not limited to individuals from various Illinois state departments as listed in the Attorney General's press release.
The string of prosecutions underscores a broader initiative by Raoul's office to crack down on pandemic assistance fraud, with multiple government employees from different departments facing charges for similar offenses. Assistant Attorney General Tori Whitman of Raoul’s Criminal Prosecutions and Trials Assistance Bureau is tasked with leading the prosecution on this case. For a complete overview of the statement provided by Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office, you can view the news release here.
