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Three Massachusetts residents have been sentenced recently for separate loan and bank fraud cases.
A Haverhill woman was sentenced last week for her role in a scheme to use stolen identities to fraudulently apply for bank accounts and credit cards, as well as a related conspiracy to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related U.S. Small Business Administration loans.
Neida Lopez, 45, was sentenced in Boston federal court to 28 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in May 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. Lopez was also required to pay restitution of $20,000.
According to the U.S. attorney’s statement, Lopez applied for a checking account at a bank branch in Maine using the personal identifying information of a U.S. citizen. She later used that same stolen identity to apply for and obtain a credit card, which she and her co-conspirators used up to the $20,000 limit.
Lopez was also held responsible at her sentencing for her role in a related conspiracy that used other stolen identities to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, the U.S. attorney’s statement said.
More than $452,000 in SBA funds were fraudulently obtained as part of this scheme, and the co-conspirators used stolen identities to open fraudulent bank accounts, which were then linked to other fraudulent bank accounts set up to receive the SBA funds, the statement said.
In a separate case, a former Everett man was sentenced recently for schemes to fraudulently rent an apartment and obtain Paycheck Protection Program and EIDL loans.
Tedje Menard, 28, was sentenced to 28 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in September to two counts of wire fraud, one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Menard used another person’s name and identity in June 2021 to apply to the EIDL program for a $40,000 loan. Menard had previously used this identity in November 2020 as part of the application and screening process when applying to rent an apartment.
Menard in April 2021 had also used his own name to apply for a PPP loan of about $20,800. In the loan application, Menard falsely represented his business’ total gross income in 2019 and his criminal history, according to the U.S. attorney’s statement.
Another case saw a Canton woman sentenced for fraudulently opening bank accounts as part of a conspiracy involving romance scams and pandemic unemployment fraud.
Florence Mwende Musau, 38, was sentenced in Boston federal court last week to 44 months in prison and 30 months of supervised release after pleading guilty in 2021 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Musau was also ordered to pay approximately $957,000 in restitution and to forfeit approximately $350,000 and a Lexus SUV.
According to the U.S. attorney, Musau used fake passports in the names of numerous aliases to open bank accounts in and around Boston to receive the proceeds of the romance scams. Musau then took large cash withdrawals from those accounts, generally in amounts less than $10,000 to evade detection and currency transaction reporting requirements, the statement said. Musau also received proceeds of fraudulent state pandemic unemployment assistance benefits in the names of victims.
As part of the scheme, Musau used at least three different aliases to open nearly ten fraudulent bank accounts and receive approximately $1 million in fraud proceeds, the statement said.
