Crime

Owner of Food Business is First in USVI to be Convicted of Paycheck Protection Program Fraud After Receiving $383,397

Last updated on Sept. 1, 2021 at 1:30 a.m. ST. THOMAS — U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert announced Tuesday that Mashama Ferdinand, 38, of St. Thomas, pleaded guilty to wire fraud affecting a financial institution after applying for the Paycheck Protection Program and receiving $383,397 for an estimated 15 employees and quarterly payroll of $460,079, even as the food business did not employ not nearly as many people and didn't come close to earning the quarterly amount Ferdinand stated in her PPP application. Ferdinand pleaded guilty before Magistrate Ruth Miller. Ferdinand was released after posting a $25,000 unsecured bond pending sentencing. According to court documents, on July 30, 2020, Ferdinand filed a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application on behalf of her company, Shama’s Specialties. The application fraudulently alleged that she employed 15 employees and earned a quarterly payroll of $460,079.82. Evidence developed in this investigation revealed that Ferdinand’s ...