ATLANTA – A Georgia man has been given one year and nine months in prison for taking nearly a half million dollars through false pandemic relief loan applications.
Maurice Lawson, 39, of Lithia Springs also will be watched by police for three years after completing his sentence and has been ordered to pay back more than $435,000.
Georgia man sent to prison for pandemic relief fraud
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INTERMEDIATE
Lawson admitted he was guilty in May to applying for at least seven loans for six different businesses between April 2020 and May 2021. He found the loans through the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs.
The applications contained a variety of false information, including false tax forms, fake Social Security cards, made-up addresses, and lying about employing between five and 12 workers, says lawyer Ryan Buchanan. Lawson wanted $537,120 in loan funds and received $419,020, Buchanan said.
“Congress [created] the Paycheck Protection Program to provide emergency financial [help] to millions of Americans suffering the... effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Buchanan said. “[Lawson’s] crimes [will] make it harder for the United States to provide disaster relief during the next large... emergency.”
“Congress [created] the Paycheck Protection Program to provide emergency financial [help] to millions of Americans suffering the... effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Buchanan said. “[Lawson’s] crimes [will] make it harder for the United States to provide disaster relief during the next large... emergency.”
Among the businesses Lawson used to apply for loans was Coastal Drape LLC, the same company he used for other types of fraud, for which he was charged in March 2021. He received funds from one of the fake pandemic relief loan applications days after he was charged for his other fraud crimes.
The case was worked by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General.
The case was worked by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General.
Words and phrases
relief/rɪˈliːf/
reducing or removing something that is painful; and things like money or food that are given to victims of disasters like a war, flood, or pandemic
paycheck/ˈpeɪˌtʃɛk/
the money given to a worker by a business
fake /ˈfeɪk/
not real or true
fund/ˈfʌnd/
an amount of money that is available for a special purpose
fraud/ˈfrɑːd/
the crime of lying about personal information to get something you don’t deserve, like pandemic relief money
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