Jesse Lelievre, a businessman from North Andover, Massachusetts, was sentenced for wrongly using COVID-19 relief funds meant for his company. He will serve two years of supervised release, including five months of home detention. He must also repay the $179,090 he misused, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lelievre pleaded guilty back in September 2024 to the charge of theft of government property. Paramount Plumbing & Heating LLC, the business owned and managed by Lelievre, received an Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration under the agreement to use those funds as working capital during the economic distress caused by the pandemic. Instead, Lelievre was discovered to have redirected these funds for personal expenditures. These expenditures include the purchase of a diamond ring and home remodeling, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the FBI’s Boston Division and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped investigate and prosecute COVID-19 relief fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Markham and Kriss Basil led the case. This is part of a broader effort by the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, created in May 2021, to crack down on fraud related to pandemic relief funds. The Task Force works to prevent fraud and ensure relief programs are protected. People can report fraud to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline, as stated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
