Winston-Salem Woman Pleads Guilty to False Statements in Connection with Cares Act Loan

WINSTON-SALEM – MICHELLE RENEE HOLLIS, of Winston-Salem, pled guilty today to one count of making a false statement related to fraudulently obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act and administered by the Small Business Association (“SBA”), announced United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston.

According to court documents, HOLLIS received an EIDL loan for a business called “Hollis House.” The loan application falsified the business’s gross revenues and number of employees. Based on the fraudulent representations, the SBA granted HOLLIS an EIDL loan of $134,900 and an EIDL grant of $5,000. Following disbursement of the loan, HOLLIS used the proceeds to purchase land in California and a 2017 Porsche Cayenne.

Sentencing is scheduled to take place on March 12, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, courtroom number two, before United States District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder. At sentencing, HOLLIS faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a period of supervised release of up to three years, and monetary penalties.

The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation is investigating the case, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Waid.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’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.

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