A Slovak Republic citizen has been sentenced to 38 months in prison and ordered to repay $738,118 after defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), aimed to support American businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark pronounced the sentence yesterday, addressing the fraudulent activity committed by Mark Ethan Jermain, who previously operated under the name Arsene Millogo.
Jermain's ploy to deceitfully claim PPP loans began on April 26, 2020, and persisted until July 16, 2021. From across the ocean, he managed to swiftly apply for and receive funds ostensibly meant for his fictitious businesses, including Crazyeats LLC and Unimentors LLC. The standoff between legality and illicit gain played out as he transferred ill-gotten monies back to Slovakia, not even bothering to signal false intentions of holding up the struggling businesses the loans intended to protect. According to an announcement by the Justice Department, the first claim was an $80,000 loan application submitted for Crazyeats LLC, a company established in Missouri.
Only weeks later, a second grab bag request was put forth by Jermain, this time in the name of Unimentors LLC, for which he claimed $325,275 on May 13, 2020. Once the initial Unimentors loan was approved, Jermain doubled down, submitting a Second Draw PPP loan application for the same amount on February 5, 2021. These loans, of course, were designed as a lifeline for American businesses as they navigated the uncharted waters of a global health emergency—not for personal enrichment at the expense of others.
FBI St. Louis Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson stated, "Mark Ethan Jermain fraudulently applied for and received PPP loans for businesses that didn't exist anywhere but on paper. Furthermore, he used the identity of a former business partner, unbeknownst to the partner, to defraud the taxpayer funded program out of nearly three quarters of a million dollars." Jermain's cover was ultimately blown when FBI special agents prepared to nab him at a New York airport, thwarting any plans to flee the country. This was on the back of his August 17, 2023 return to the U.S., his August 30 indictment, and his September 7 arrest.
In June, facing the weight of evidence mounted against him, Jermain pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. The case was investigated by the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll led the prosecution effort. Now, as Jermain confronts the reality of his 42 months behind bars, the story stands as another chapter in the ongoing narrative of PPP fraud—an unfortunate side effect of a program developed swiftly to rapidly save businesses and jobs in a time of crisis. Far from the ideal patron of industry, Jermain instead played a lonesome gambit against a system attempting to keep afloat the very soul of American entrepreneurship amid a ravaging pandemic.
