Two males have been sentenced yesterday for his or her participation in a COVID-19 fraud scheme, which concerned fraudulent purposes for $1.6 million in loans via the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP).

Dumarsais Blaise Jr., 45, of Stonecrest, Georgia, was sentenced to 2 years and three months in jail, whereas his brother, Alexander Blaise, 41, of Plantation, Florida, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in jail.

In keeping with court docket paperwork, the brothers labored collectively to submit fraudulent PPP purposes, with Dumarsais Blaise utilizing his experience as a tax preparer to create faux tax paperwork submitted in assist of the purposes.

The conspiracy concerned fabricating details about three purported firms, two of which didn’t exist. For the third firm, they falsely inflated the variety of workers and payroll prices.

The FDIC-OIG and FBI Miami Subject Workplace investigated the case, and the Justice Division’s Legal Division leads the prosecution of fraud schemes exploiting the PPP.

Because the inception of the CARES Act, over 200 defendants in additional than 130 felony circumstances have been prosecuted. Extra data could be discovered at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/ppp-fraud.