State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Today State Auditor Shad White announced Ethel Cain has been arrested in Bolivar County after she was indicted for fraud related to the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) “Back to Business” grant program. A $50,384.19 demand letter was presented to Cain upon arrest. The demand amount includes interest and investigative expenses.
Cain is accused of using her company, Lifeline Financial Freedom Solutions, to fraudulently submit grant applications on behalf of other businesses to obtain the CARES Act stimulus funding administered by MDA. On multiple occasions, Cain’s company allegedly submitted multiple grant applications for the same company. Cain’s company is also purported to have knowingly submitted grant applications for ineligible businesses. Special Agents identified $38,500 in grant payments made as a result of this purported fraud.
Representatives from MDA and Balch & Bingham LLP reported Lifeline Financial Freedom Solutions to the Auditor’s office after denying several grant applications submitted by the company. Cain submitted nearly $400,000 worth of potentially fraudulent grant applications, the vast majority of which were denied.
“This is my office’s first case arresting someone for COVID stimulus fraud,” said Auditor White. “Others out there thinking of stealing stimulus funds should know: it doesn’t have to be our last.”
Cain surrendered herself at the Bolivar County Sheriff’s office late last night. Bail will be set by the court.
Cain will face up to 15 years in prison and $30,000 in fines if convicted on all charges. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The case will be prosecuted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s office.
No surety bond covers Cain’s alleged scheme. Surety bonds are similar to insurance designed to protect taxpayers in the event that public money is misspent. Cain will remain liable for the full amount of the demand in addition to the criminal charges levied against her.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online any time by clicking the red “Report Fraud” button at www.osa.ms.gov or via telephone during normal business hours by calling 1-(800)-321-1275.
16 comments:
It never stops
The promise of riches from Covid. What will be next when it runs it's course.
Hinds County BOS are sitting on 22 million in PPE ..and by all accounts it was meant for employees which they are not. So ? Again, poaching the pond perch while the sharks feed freely.
Lifeline Financial Freedom Solutions just sounds like a big word, do nothing operation typically found in the Delta.
@ 10:01, Yea and all that stuff will go to waste as it has a short shelf life...
EBT, Section 8, Stimulus, just more fraud funded by the shrinking middle class, but what do I care as I haven't paid a penny in federal income tax since 1999.
Maybe he can find the missing $1,000,000 in Jackson from the bogus cleaning company.
Could there be a nexus between the government printing money willy-nilly and an apparent increasing attitude of entitlement?
RMQ
CNBC had an episode of American Greed last night on Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans who embezzled funds after Katrina.
All I could think of during the entire episode was that what he did wouldn't be top five in corruption in Mississippi right now.
Who is busier than a bee? Who else but the firm Balch and Bingham LLP.
Why in the world do they work so hard? Because Balch and Bingham LLP knows that old fashioned hard work is often the difference between getting stung...or getting a taste of the honey.
Balch and Bingham LLP, they make money the old fashioned way, they earn it!
@10:56
The money is not simply created from nothing. The money is created from nothing by the Federal Reserve Bank and is then loaned to the US Treasury by the private Federal Reserve Bank which is neither federal, nor has any reserves. No reserves unless you count the secret debt ledger that contains what. debt and interest that we the debt slaves owe the international bankers.
The sense of entitlement comes from understanding that the 1% now have over half the planets’ wealth accumulated through extreme criminal usury.
Anyone else wish Shad White was in D.C. with teams crawling up EVERY POLITICIAN’s ARSE/? Thank you Mr. White for doing your job, something many of us can’t say about other officials.
She should have applied for (Federal) PPP, rather than (MS) BTB, grants.
I'm afraid some are going to be disappointed in Shad when he runs for the next step Office. There are some organizations/Municipalities/Counties the State Auditor's office REFUSES to even allow a complaint to be made on.
But as for Stimulus Fraud, here is a public website that has gathered PPP payments to People, companies you would be surprised received FREE money. You can search by State, zip code, company name...but remember this. The Government has refused many FOIA requests and there are currently lawsuits attempting to get information on payments over 100k. You will find some though. 2 multimillionaire business partners got their whole years payroll given to them, 700,000 (the entire normal years payroll. One guy I never even heard of who is supposed to live 2 miles away got 14,000 for Trapping & Fur harvesting losses. There are so many beauty shops, daycares, Beef Ranches, cleaning companies, even Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers, trucking, freight hauling, caterers, miscellaneous other, clothing, & construction companies who got PPP money that I never heard of and are supposed to be in this small county. Even our Dept of Agriculture Agent got $21k for income loss from cattle losses & he never missed a check from his 82k Federal Salary.
The key to searching, is all this information was provided by the Name put on the Loan application. So many times its impossible to determine who many people are. The owners of 2 subways, who have other Government jobs got almost $500,000.
So many times, the name is a deviation, partial, or doesn't exist at all. You wont find it on a SOS business search.
Remember this is just ONE zip code in the County...multiple people using these categories.
Industrial Building Construction
Logging
Other Building Material Dealers
Support Activities for Forestry (His log truck broke 4 years ago and hes been in another state working construction or in prison...21k
Electrical Apparatus and Equipment, Wiring Supplies, and Related Equipment Merchant Wholesalers
Mobile Food Services
General Freight Trucking, Local
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
Couriers and Express Delivery Services
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload
Site Preparation Contractors
Office Administrative Services
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services
Hunting and Trapping
Land Subdivision (Same Retired MS DOT Officer who got 21k for site prep services)
Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers
General Automotive Repair
https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/industries/beef-cattle-ranching-and-farming
Hog and Pig Farming
Beauty Salons
All Other Personal Services
Janitorial Services
Landscaping Services
Other Clothing Stores
Caterers
Barber Shops
Commercial Printing (except Screen and Books)
Limited-Service Restaurants
Recreational Goods Rental
Educational Support Services (a Retired College Professor drawing PERS)
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Less Than Truckload
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels
Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Stores
Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services
Support Activities for Forestry
Child Day Care Services
All Other Specialty Trade Contractors
Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading) (This is the owner of a convenience store that sells used tires)
Religious Organizations (God lost money too)
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors
All Other Miscellaneous Crop Farming (Owns over 8k acres and Sells insurance full time)
Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing (Never heard of the person, got 20832.00)
Apiculture (Pretty sure he died years ago)
Other Accounting Services (one of the Justice Court Judges, has one of the 2 BMWs in the County. Her husband got 2 payments totaling 130k for beef income losses & he owns the stockyard in another county...son got 21k for beef income loss)
This is all public information...
11,768,689
TOTAL PPP LOANS
4,318
TOTAL LENDERS
$67,866
AVERAGE PPP LOAN
8
AVG COMPANY SIZE
https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program
PPP fraud is not in Shad's jurisdiction.
I'm just glad to hear news of a government office doing SOMETHING
I’ll be glad when they come get the PPP ballers
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