A Springfield woman with prior felony convictions fraudulently filled out a federal loan application designed to help business owners during the pandemic, and on Wednesday she was sentenced in federal court for the crime.
Lisa Beatrice Gee, 34, was sentenced to serve five years and one day in prison and must forfeit the $58,666 she received in government loans for two small cleaning businesses.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Gee was convicted for credit card fraud, forging checks and mail theft after she was arrested in 2016. An investigation found she took checks, credit cards and personal IDs from victims whose mail she pilfered, and she served two years and six months in prison for the crimes.
But when she filled out federal Paycheck Protection Program loan applications, she answered “no” to the question about prior felony convictions. Gee’s request for nearly $59,000 in PPP loans provided through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act would have been denied had she answered truthfully, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The release states she filled out three different PPP loan applications.
Last November, Gee pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud in connection to the falsified PPP loan applications. The forgivable loan program was created in 2020 to help small business owners pay workers and make lease, utility and other expense payments at the outset of the pandemic. It has resulted in numerous fraud investigations.
