5 Years For Man Who ‘Fraudulently Obtained’ Over $840K Through CARES Act Stimulus

Lander, Wyoming -- A 33-year-old Wyoming man who “fraudulently obtained” more than $840,000 through the state’s Business Council and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Acting United States Attorney Nicholas Vassallo announced Wednesday that Paul McCown of Lander, Wyoming, was sentenced earlier this month to 63 months or approximately 5.25 years in prison on four counts of wire fraud in relation to COVID-19 relief programs under the state’s CARES Act.

According to a press release from the Wyoming District Attorney’s Office, McCown attempted to open a gin distillery and he “applied for grants for his personal business even though he had never sold any gin,” the media release stated. The former Chief Financial Officer of the Wyoming Catholic College has since agreed to pay back a total of $841,863 that he “fraudulently obtained from the State of Wyoming.”

Aside from the grants he obtained from the Wyoming CARES Act stimulus, McCown also “engaged in an elaborate scheme that included impersonating others and forging documents to fraudulently induce” financial management firm Ria R. Squared, Inc. “to loan him $15,000,000,” the news release stated.

Vassallo said McCown’s “misconduct damaged the community as a whole and harmed businesses that legitimately needed the aid.”

McCown plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud in relation to pandemic relief funds late in March, local radio station KGAB reported.

News of McCown’s sentencing came weeks after two women were charged over alleged engagement in fraud schemes to steal millions in pandemic relief funds.

Court documents revealed that Tequisha Solomon of Las Vegas and Takara Hughes of Maplewood defrauded multiple state agencies “by submitting fraudulent claims and applications for unemployment benefits” since June 2020. Solomon allegedly got a total payout of $4.1 million, while Hughes received at least $1.2 million.

In June, a federal jury in Detroit convicted Johnny Ho of wire fraud and money laundering for engaging in “a conspiracy to submit falsified PPP and EIDL loan applications in order to obtain COVID-19 relief funds that he was not entitled to receive.” Ho fraudulently obtained $4.1 million in relief funds, court documents revealed.

Late last year, the U.S. Secret Service revealed that nearly $100 billion in COVID-19 relief funds have been stolen by criminals. At that time, the Secret Service said most of the funds dispersed improperly came from unemployment fraud.