Las Vegas Resident Sentenced To Prison For COVID-19 Relief Loan Scheme Committed While On Supervised Release

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas man was sentenced today by United States District Judge Andrew P. Gordon to two years and six months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for devising a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $42,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loan applications that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

According to court documents, in June 2020, Shavonte Hill (36) — while serving a term of federal supervised release for a 2017 felony conviction — devised a scheme to defraud the SBA. As part of the scheme, Hill submitted on behalf of businesses that did not exist loan applications that contained false information, including false revenue amounts for non-existent companies and false certifications that Hill would spend the loan money on business expenses, such as payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. He also provided fraudulent documentation in support of his loan applications. The loss caused by Hill’s scheme was about $42,082.

In November 2023, Hill pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. In addition to imprisonment, Hill was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $42,082.

United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada; Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI; Special Agent in Charge Jon W. Ellwanger for the Western Region, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-CFPB OIG); Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King for the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG); and IRS CI Phoenix Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Carissa Messick for the IRS Criminal Investigation made the announcement.

The FBI, FRB-CFPB OIG, SBA OIG, IRS CI, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorneys Kimberly Frayn and Jessica Oliva prosecuted the case.

In May 2021 the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Justice Department 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 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 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 via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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