Share This:

Former Amtrak Employee Faces Up to 15 Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Cares Act Fraud and Theft

Louisiana – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Stacey V. Santemore, Sr., age 46, formerly of New Orleans, Louisiana, but now a resident of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on April 27, 2022 before U.S. District Court Judge Jay C. Zainey to a two-count bill of information charging him with making false statements and theft of government funds related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The CARES Act is a federal law that went into effect on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency financial assistance in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses through the PPP, which was one source of relief provided by the Act. The PPP allows qualifying small businesses and other organizations to receive loans with a two-year maturity and a 1% interest rate.

Businesses must use PPP loan proceeds to cover payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be forgiven if the business spends the loan proceeds on these expense items within a specified time after receiving the proceeds and spends at least a certain percentage of the PPP loan proceeds on payroll expenses. Congress authorized over $300 billion in additional PPP funding in April 2020.

In addition, the CARES Act established a temporary federal unemployment insurance program known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) in the event of a major disaster declaration. The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) administered PUA, which provided unemployment insurance benefits to individuals who were ineligible for other types of unemployment benefits (e.g., the self-employed, independent contractors, or gig economy workers).

According to the charging documents, Santemore made false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in July 2020 in order to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief loans funded by the federal government, including PPP funds, which he received on July 14, 2020, in the amount of approximately $89,000.

Despite being fully employed by Amtrak, the national passenger railcar company, Santemore applied for Louisiana unemployment benefits through the LWC with PUA funding. From April 2020 to March 2021, he obtained approximately $22,000 through the theft of government funds.

For the false statements count, Santemore faces up to five years in prison, $250,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release. For the theft charge, he faces up to ten years in prison, $250,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release. In addition, there is a mandatory special assessment fee of $100 per count. The sentencing will take place on July 26, 2022, before U.S. District Court Judge Zainey.

The Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force on May 17, 2021, to marshal the Department of Justice’s resources in collaboration with agencies across government to strengthen efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force supports efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors, as well as agencies tasked with administering relief programs, to prevent fraud through, among other things, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. Please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus for more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic.

Please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus for more information on the Department of Justice’s response to the pandemic. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can contact the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or submit a complaint online at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General – Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General in investigating this matter was lauded by U.S. Attorney Evans. The prosecution is led by Assistant United States Attorney Edward J. Rivera.

Follow this link to report a typo or other issue.