An Olive Branch woman has received an 18-month federal prison sentence for her role in defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a COVID-19 relief fund established to aid struggling small businesses. Lisa Evans, 43, concocted a scheme to swindle over $5 million by filing fraudulent loan applications on behalf of individuals who were not eligible for the relief funds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
Joseph C. Murphy Jr., Interim United States Attorney, disclosed that Evans not only falsified loan applications but also manufactured sham tax documents to bolster her claims. Borrowers who got their hands on the PPP loans under her guidance subsequently paid her kickbacks ranging from 20 to 30 percent, adding up to a loss of $5,126,258 to the federal program. Sentenced by United States District Judge Thomas L. Parker, Evans now also faces three years of supervised release post-prison and a daunting $4,400,723 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration, as conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The investigation, which brought Evans' fraudulent activities to light, was a concerted effort by numerous federal agencies, including the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service's Memphis Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony R. Arvin led the prosecution, bringing to a close the case that exposed a stark abuse of a program meant to safeguard the livelihoods of American workers and businesses amid an unprecedented public health crisis.
In a statement released by the Western District of Tennessee's U.S. Attorney's Office, it was noted that these fraudulent applications by Evans led to a significant loss to the Treasury at a time when American businesses faced their most dire hour. The sentence rendered against Evans reflects the seriousness of her misdeeds as the country contended with the ravages of a pandemic and the economic fallout it wrought.
