Loxahatchee resident Raisha Kelly, 44, has been sentenced to five years in prison for her leadership role in a Payment Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud scheme. According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Federico A. Moreno also sentenced Kelly to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay $443,895 in restitution. Convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, Kelly was found to have recruited individuals to apply for PPP loans based on false claims of owning sole proprietorship businesses and misrepresented annual revenues.
The fraudulent applications were supported by falsified tax returns, prepared and submitted by Kelly, who demanded a 25 percent kickback from the loan applicants in return. She also applied for PPP loans for her own purported business, falsely inflating her income to receive funds. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office statement, the scheme netted approximately $106,649 from thirteen individuals. Investigations by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG), and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG) led to Kelly's conviction.
The CARES Act, established in March 2020, was designed to cushion Americans from the economic hardship wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, providing funds for small businesses through the EIDL program. However, the opportunity also presented fertile ground for fraud. On May 17, 2021, a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was formed to fortify the fight against pandemic-related fraud, employing a sweep of government resources, coordination mechanisms, and investigative techniques geared towards the prevention and prosecution of such crimes.
Further intensifying these efforts, the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office was chosen on September 15, 2022, to lead one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force Teams to enhance the detection and deterrence of COVID-19 related financial fraud. Individuals with information on attempted fraud involving COVID-19 were urged to report it through the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline or through their online complaint form.
Those interested in more details of the case against Raisha Kelly or other related cases can access them through the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system under case number 24-cr-20079.
