DUBLIN, Ga. — A Georgia woman has pleaded guilty to stealing more than half a million dollars in COVID-19 relief funds.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, Gladys Harun, 44, of Byron, Ga. was a franchisee of a tax preparation service with several locations in Georgia.
Officials said Harun admitted to lying to investigators from the Small Business Administration Office about applications she filed for herself and her customers, to get over $550,000 from a California lender through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’s Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
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“Harun used her knowledge as a tax preparer to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds intended for small businesses struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “Such greed-fueled theft from government programs hurts businesses legitimately in need of vital relief efforts.”
Harun was ordered to repay $552,678 and serve five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
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Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
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