Baker Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Wire Fraud and Making False Statements in Connection with CARES Act COVID-19 Pandemic Assistance

US Attorney's Office, Middle District of Louisiana, Oct. 3, 2022

United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that U.S. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick sentenced Chanda Hall, age 44, of Baker, Louisiana, to 26 months in federal prison following her convictions for wire fraud and making false statements.  Upon release from imprisonment, Hall will serve two years of supervised release.  The Court further sentenced Hall to pay a $5,000 fine, $25,000 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and a $25,000 money judgment to the United States.

According to facts presented at trial, the SBA is an agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.  The CARES Act is a federal law enacted in or around March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Among other relief, the CARES Act expanded the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which provides loans for small businesses and other eligible entities.

In May 2020, Hall submitted her first EIDL application.  Although she submitted the application in the name of a company that she had formed in 2010, the company’s registration with the Louisiana Secretary of State had been revoked in 2015, and at the time Hall submitted this application, the company had not been reinstated, and it had no bank account.  On June 16, 2020, the SBA denied the application.

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