STATESBORO, Ga. (WJBF) – An Augusta man has been sentenced to prison for COVID-19 scheme that netted more than $4.5 million in loans and grants.
According to the Department of Justice District of South Carolina, 42-year-old Kamario Thomas was sentenced to 38 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Thomas is ordered to pay $4,546,945 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and to serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, Jill E. Steinberg, says “In collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we continue to pursue those who illegally profited from a COVID-19 program designed to help struggling small businesses, and that Kamario Thomas defrauded the government and aided other individuals in stealing money from the taxpayers, and this sentence holds him accountable.”
The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided more than $650 billion in funding for qualifying small businesses facing financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, with grants and forgivable loans available through the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).
As described in court documents and testimony, Thomas completed false and fraudulent EIDL applications for himself, and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in return for completing and submitting fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications on behalf of others. To create those applications, Thomas fabricated IRS forms and tax records.
