Georgia

Sometimes it’s hard to get funding for new businesses. Sometimes it’s hard to save up for plastic surgery. Carl Delano Torjago saw an opportunity to do both when the federal government rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program for existing companies. But the federal government...

Ezra Hatcher Sr., of Augusta, Ga., and his daughter, Sherry Hatcher, have confessed to filing fraudulent inflated tax returns on behalf of their clients. (Fathers should teach their daughters many things, but how to commit fraud is definitely not one of them.) An Internal Revenue...

Sanford Lamar Edwards,50, of Crawfordville, Ga., pleaded guilty to withholding employment information while applying for and receiving pension benefits from the Veterans Benefits Administration. When sentenced, he faces up to five years in prison, followed by up to three years of supervised release, and...

Vinath Oudomsine, of Dublin, Ga., was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud for illegally obtaining a COVID-19 disaster relief loan. You might find it very interesting that he used a large portion of the loan to buy...

Jamare Mason, of Georgia, recently participated in a Social Security fraud scheme in Miami, Fla., where he worked with co-conspirators to steal the personal information of disabled veterans and Social Security Administration (SSA) beneficiaries. (These opportunistic fraudsters really were shameless when it came to...

Hospice is a critical service for those who are approaching the end of life and their families or caregivers. That is why it is so egregious that a Georgia hospice owner, Nourolzaman Tucker, took advantage of her Medicaid patients by submitting fraudulent bills to...

Georgia resident Brenda Copeland owned and operated The Counseling and Training Center in Warner Robins. Despite not being authorized to run a group practice, Copeland was enrolled as an individual practitioner to provide mental health services to children. (Sounds like she needed to go...

Rubber stamps have lots of creative uses such as journaling, card making and scrapbooking. (They can also be used for repetitive signature signing and eliminating hand cramps.) Some unscrupulous individuals use rubber stamps to commit fraud. Kenneth Myers, Jr., 43, of Alpharetta, Ga., and...

Jacinthia Williams, 44, has been sentenced for committing wire fraud. The woman, who is from Augusta, Ga., fraudulently submitted multiple applications in an attempt to obtain COVID-19 relief loans. (She joins a growing line of fraudsters who have been caught and prosecuted for committing...

Sometimes, when people occupy high positions within a corporation, the power and the prestige of it all goes to their head. And they carry out illegal schemes that result in tax fraud convictions. That’s what happened to Taressa Hightower, 60, of Grayson, Ga., who...