Omaha Woman and Oakland Couple Sentenced for Government Loan Program Fraud

Acting United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Jazmyne L. McMiller, 36, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on July 6, 2023, by United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher to twelve months and one day of imprisonment for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. After McMiller’s release from prison, she will begin a three-year term of supervised release.  There is no parole in the federal system.  McMiller was also ordered to pay restitution of $267,040.20. 

McMiller was the third defendant to be convicted and sentenced in connection with this case.  On February 8, 2023, Sharon M. Thompson, 62, of Oakland, Nebraska, was sentenced by Judge Buescher to four years of probation for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud.  Sharon Thompson was also ordered to pay restitution of $355,020.30.

On May 31, 2023, Todd A. Thompson, 57, of Oakland, Nebraska, was sentenced by Judge Buescher to 41 months’ imprisonment for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. He will serve two years of supervised release.  Todd Thompson was also ordered to pay restitution of $1,193,957.10.

During 2020 and 2021, all three defendants submitted applications for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) program loans.  The PPP and EIDL loan programs were created or expanded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The applications submitted or caused to be submitted by all three defendants misrepresented how much the applicant businesses had paid employees in past compensation and how much revenue each had received, resulting in significantly inflated loan amounts under the PPP and EIDL programs.  The PPP applications were supported by false documents that Todd Thompson helped prepare, including false tax forms that each defendant signed. 

In total, McMiller submitted or caused to be submitted fraudulent applications seeking loans in the amount of approximately $404,324 and obtained $254,324.  The fraudulent applications Sharon Thompson signed sought loans totaling approximately $469,886, and she obtained $344,786. The fraudulent applications Todd Thompson signed sought loans totaling approximately $1,368,892.00, and he obtained $552,892.00.  In total, the three defendants submitted fraudulent applications seeking loans totaling $2,243,102.00 and obtained $1,152,002.00. 

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.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.