CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A St. Albans woman was sentenced Friday to five years of federal probation and ordered to pay $25,830 in restitution after admitting to defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of more than $20,000 in COVID-19 relief loans. The PPP was established under the CARES Act to assist struggling businesses during the pandemic.
Jessica Nutter, 39, fraudulently obtained two PPP loans in 2021 by submitting false information to a Texas lender and the Small Business Administration (SBA). According to court documents, Nutter claimed that she operated a business, Nut House Wood, with $50,000 in gross income in 2019, though the entity had never been registered or engaged in legitimate business activities. She also submitted a separate loan application in her husband’s name, falsely claiming he had earned $50,000 as an independent contractor for an online food delivery service.
Prosecutors said the Texas lender approved both applications, transferring $10,415 for each loan to the Nutters’ personal bank accounts. Nutter used a portion of the funds to pay for a family vacation and general household expenses. She admitted in court that both businesses described in the applications were fictitious and that the funds were obtained fraudulently.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office as part of a broader effort to combat pandemic-related fraud. “These funds were intended to support legitimate businesses and workers during a time of unprecedented need,” said U.S. Attorney Will Thompson.
Nutter’s case is part of the Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which was established in 2021 to prosecute fraud involving federal pandemic relief programs. Authorities encouraged individuals with information about similar schemes to report them to the Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud.
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