KC man claimed $1.5M budget, payroll of 100 in COVID relief fraud. He’s sentenced
A Kansas City man is headed to federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief money.
Jarrell Curne, 37, was sentenced Thursday to 36 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
He pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, according to a news release by The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Court records show, the release said, that Curne was the owner of a Missouri Limited Liability Company called Hustle Ova Everything Entertainment.
“On May 13, 2020, Curne submitted a $312,500 PPP loan application to a bank on behalf of Hustle,” the release said. “In the loan application, Curne falsely stated that, in 2019, Hustle had an annual payroll of $1.5 million and 100 employees.
“In reality, Hustle had no eligible employees or payroll whatsoever.”
Two days after Curne submitted the application, the bank transferred the full loan amount to an account that he controlled for Hustle.
Curne then, in an effort to get the SBA to forgive the loan, falsely certified that the money was used for “permissible business purposes under the PPP,” the release said.
“In reality, the funds were used by Curne for personal expenses,” it said.
The court also ordered the Kansas City man to pay $318,220.49 in restitution to the SBA.
