Twenty-three people from Texas have been named in a federal indictment for allegations of fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas has charged these individuals with a money laundering conspiracy.
The defendants are alleged “to have conspired to launder the proceeds of wire fraud in order to conceal the nature, location, source, and ownership of the money gained by fraud,” the Eastern District of Texas Attorney’s Office said in a statement filed last week.
The indictment also alleges that “the conspirators would open bank accounts, use assumed business names, and transfer, withdraw, and move the money and use it for their own purposes.”
Methods of the alleged fraud included “business email compromise, romance scams, unemployment insurance fraud, and Payroll [sic] Protection Program (PPP) fraud,” the statement said.
The following is a list of the defendants:
- Kendrick Lavell Collins, 42, of Aubrey;
- Letisha Ann Stover, 41, of Richardson;
- Spencer Leonard Leigh, 35, of Everman;
- Danuielle Fowler Edney, 51, of Plano;
- Diamond Plashette Edwards, 24, of Grand Prairie;
- Tabitha Lashawn Deberry, 34, of Dallas;
- Amos Wilson, 56, of Dallas;
- Andrew Demarcus Penny, 45, of Dallas;
- Demetrics Devon Black, 31, of Dallas;
- Jarrick Otishey Buckhanan, 43, of Dallas;
- Jerica Jareese Matthews, 31, of Anna;
- John Gantt, 35, of Dallas;
- Lemar Mashawn Cohen, A/K/A Lemar Marshawn Cohen, 36, of Dallas;
- Chibuike Samuel Iwuh, 30, of The Colony;
- Cynthia Mechelle Wilson, 55, of Dallas;
- Dontrell Lamon Amie, 42, of North Richland Hills;
- Eric Jason Vaughan, 49, of Arlington;
- Jeremiah Lee Gantt, 28, of Dallas;
- Joshua Matthew Baham, 27, of Anna;
- Lesley Odell Brown, 32, of Carrollton;
- Michael Andre Studaway, 26, of Dallas;
- Tamara Dawn Thomas, 41, of Dallas; and
- Timothy Dwayne Hoston, 44, of Carrollton.
The amount in question reportedly totaled more than $3.5 million. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Frisco Resident Agency and prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys in the Eastern District of Texas.
While overall fraud is slightly down in Dallas from 2022, according to the Dallas Police Department’s Crime Statistics Dashboard, impersonation fraud is up 33%, amid continuing high rates of crime across the board in the city.
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