COVID-19 Strike Force indicts two for COVID-19 fraud
By Terry Murry on Monday, September 12th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SPOKANE – U.S Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref of the Eastern District of Washington, has announced that a federal grand jury has indicted two additional individuals for COVID-19 fraud as part of the Eastern Washington COVID-19 Strike Force. Both are from West Richland, Wash.
The CARES Act provided a number of programs through which eligible small businesses could request and obtain relief funding intended to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic for small and local businesses. One such program, the Paycheck Protection Program, provided government-backed loans to small businesses which could be forgiven so long as the proceeds were used for payroll and other eligible expenses. Another program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, provided low interest loans that could be deferred until the conclusion of the pandemic to provide funding for small businesses to maintain their operations during shutdowns and other economic circumstances caused by the pandemic. The PPP and EIDL programs have provided billions of dollars in aid, the vast majority of which has not been paid back, including hundreds of millions of dollars disbursed within Eastern Washington.
One indictment charges Jimia Rae Cain, 52, of West Richland, with seven counts of fraud in connection with PPP and EIDL loans that she obtained in 2020. The indictment alleges that Cain used false statements and fraudulent documents to obtain more than $330,000 in CARES Act funding for her purported business. The indictment further alleges that Cain attempted to secure an additional $280,000 in EIDL funding, but this additional funding was declined.
The second Indictment announced charges Andrei Borgheriu, 45, of West Richland with three counts of fraud in connection with $500,000 in EIDL funding that he obtained on behalf of his company Artway Transport LLC. The indictment alleges that Borgheriu falsely represented that the funding would be used as working capital for his company, but instead the defendant allegedly used it for an all-cash purchase of a personal residence in West Richland. The indictment alleges that soon after receiving the EIDL funding Borgheriu wired nearly all of it to the title company for the purchase of the personal residence. As set forth in the indictment, the United States therefore also seeks forfeiture of the residence based on allegations that it represents proceeds from the fraudulently obtained EIDL funding.
