A court in Eastern Virginia in the United States of America has found a Cameroonian, woman Rose Marie Nsahlai guilty of conspiracy, bank fraud, and money laundering.
Her husband implicated in the matter also pled guilty, the US Department of Justice has said.
They are federal crimes carrying heavy jail terms according to US law.
They are reported to have submitted fake papers permitting them to obtain loans in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.
“According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Rose-Marie Nsahlai, 47, and her husband fraudulently obtained two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.” a statement from the department of justice said adding, “The PPP was a program instituted by the U.S. Congress to help businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic continue to pay salaries or wages to their employees.”
Nsahlai and her husband reportedly exploited the scheme for their personal gains with fraudulent and unfounded claims.
“Nsahlai carried out the scheme in connection with two of her husband’s businesses by creating fraudulent payroll documentation for each business, and then submitting that documentation in support of the PPP loan applications,” the statement further reads revealing that, “The fraudulent documentation represented that her husband’s businesses had dozens of employees with over $17 million of annual payroll in 2019, when in fact they had few, if any, employees.”
They are said to have obtained huge loans which ended up in private pockets and purchase of private properties.
“In total, Nsahlai and her husband fraudulently obtained approximately $2,501,753 in loan proceeds, and they then spent those funds on items unrelated to any legitimate PPP-related expense. Those items included the down-payment on a 7,000-square-foot home in Leesburg. Nsahlai’s husband pleaded guilty to this scheme in 2021,” the department of justice went on.
Rose risks a 30 jail term as the court is expected to hand down a sentence I. July 2023.
It should be noted that Marie Rose Nsahlai is a sister to Barrister Emmanuel Nsahlai, a US-based lawyer who came to the spotlight when he brought lawsuits against some Cameroonian diaspora separatist leaders. It was alleged that Barrister Nsahlai was employed by the government of Cameroon.
By David Atangana
Mimi Mefo Info