New Orleans Man Pleads Guilty to Cares Act Fraud

NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that DENT HUNTER, age 45, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on January 30, 2024 before U.S. District Judge Darrel James Papillion to both making false statements and money laundering, related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

On March 27, 2020, the President of the United States signed into law the CARES Act, which provided emergency assistance, administered by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), to small business owners affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The two primary sources of funding for small businesses were the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program.        

According to the charging documents, or about April 6, 2020, HUNTER, on behalf of a business, made false statements to an approved lender to obtain a $122,100 PPP loan. On or about July 22, 2020, HUNTER stole $149,900 from the SBA by using an application in the name of NexLevel ONE Realty. Finally, HUNTER committed two counts of money laundering by using these ill-gotten funds to buy two motor vehicles for family members.

Sentencing will be on May 14, 2024. At sentencing, HUNTER faces up to five years in prison for the false statement counts. He also faces up to ten years in prison for the money laundering count. All of the counts include up to $250,000 in fines, up to three years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

For more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

This case was investigated by an agent assigned to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force.  The PRAC was established to serve the American public by promoting transparency and facilitating coordinated oversight of the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC’s 21 member Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency boundaries to detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5 trillion in COVID-19 spending. The PRAC Fraud Task Force brings together agents from 15 Inspectors General to investigate fraud involving a variety of programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program.  Task force agents who are detailed to the PRAC receive expanded authority to investigate pandemic fraud as well as tools and training to support their investigations.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - Office of Inspector General (a member of the PRAC) and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation in investigating this matter.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.