Source: Office of United States Attorneys
A Mansfield businesswoman was sentenced today to more than 7 years in federal prison in connection with a fraudulent scheme to obtain approximately $8.5 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Tamara Starks, 42, of Mansfield, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to wire fraud. She was sentenced Thursday to 86 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who also ordered her to pay $4,476,523.73 in restitution.
According to court documents, from approximately May 2020 to May 2021, Ms. Starks devised a scheme to defraud the PPP program through materially false pretenses. As part of the scheme, Ms. Starks created and submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications that included false payroll information and tax documentation for companies owned by her and her husband. She also obtained PPP loans for other individuals.
In total, Ms. Starks, and others working with her, submitted more than 100 PPP loan applications totaling approximately $8.5 million and received $4.5 million in PPP loan funds.
Once the loans were funded, Ms. Starks directed loan recipients to set up fraudulent payrolls through third-party vendors to make the PPP funds appear as though they were being used for legitimate purposes. In many cases, Ms. Starks received money back from their “employees” and used the PPP funds for personal expenses and purchases. Once the loan proceeds were distributed, the loan recipients paid Starks a portion of the loan proceeds as a “fee” for obtaining the loan.
The Dallas Field Offices of FDIC-OIG, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and SSA-OIG conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dimitri Rocha and Nashonme Johnson (fmr.) prosecuted the case.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who suffered the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by CARES Act was the authorization of forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses, through the PPP. Anyone with general information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.