A federal grand jury indicted a Blackfoot man in September 2023 on three wire fraud charges related to obtaining fraudulent pandemic-era financial loans. The man has accepted a plea deal and awaits his December sentencing.
Craig Marlow, 41, was charged with three counts of wire fraud after an investigation by the District of Idaho’s COVID-19 Fraud Task Force.
On June 4, Marlow accepted a plea agreement, agreeing to plead guilty to the third count of wire fraud and the remaining charges being dropped.
The agreement states a sentence recommendation will be at the low end of the United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines Manual. The potential punishment for wire fraud is up to 20 years in prison with a term of supervised release of three years.
In the agreement, Marlow agreed that from May 2020 through July 2021, he’d devised a scheme to defraud the Small Business Association by submitting multiple fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Then, on June 15, 2021, Marlow submitted a fraudulent application for an EIDL for the entity Putnam Organic Farms.
The agreement states that in the application, Marlow used his name and provided false information about the business. For example, he stated that the business had been operating since October 2008, had five employees, and had a cost of operations of $297,851 in 2019. --->READ MORE HERE
A fourth federal government employee in Belleville faces charges of fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 pandemic financial aid from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Felicia D. Harris, 44, was indicted in federal court in East St. Louis last week on four counts of interstate transportation of a security obtained by fraud in connection with allegations she applied for, accepted and spent over $20,000 for personal expenses, according to a news release.
Harris is employed by the U.S. National Geospatial Agency in St. Louis.
Attorney Sanford J. Boxerman of St. Louis is representing Harris and he declined to comment on her case Tuesday.
“According to court documents, Harris is accused of receiving $20,614 in (Paycheck Protection Program) funds she was not entitled to in February through May 2021,” the release states. “She then used misinformation to apply for loan forgiveness and was approved.”
The money was part of the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, operated by the U.S. Small Business Administration to “offer relief and forgivable loans to struggling businesses” during the COVID-19 pandemic. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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