U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska announced this week the existence of an interagency Covid-19 Fraud Task Force and said she is pursuing other white-collar financial crimes in Alaska.
“White-collar and other financial crimes devastate families, communities and organizations. This task force brings together key law enforcement personnel to continue our ongoing efforts to combat all types of white-collar crime, including Covid-19 related fraud,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “My office will remain steadfast in our work with law enforcement to find, investigate and prosecute any individual who chooses to commit these crimes.”
The task force agencies include:
- – U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General Western Region Office
- – IRS, Criminal Investigation Seattle Division Office
- – FBI Anchorage Field Office
- – U.S. Department of Treasury, Inspector General for Tax Administration
“White-collar crimes are not violent, but they are not victimless,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brandon Waddle of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “By collaborating with our partners and utilizing intelligence-driven strategies, the FBI has been working diligently to tackle white-collar crimes and to hold fraudsters accountable.”
The task force will identify, investigate, and prosecute those whose defraud economic aid programs intended to help individuals and small businesses negatively impacted by the Covid‑19 pandemic, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans, Restaurant Revitalization Funds, Shuttered Venue Operator Grants, State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program, Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and Unemployment Insurance.
The office said that people created fake businesses, committed identity theft, falsely reported their criminal history, and inflated the size and scope of their actual businesses, and then many had used federal funding for personal gain.
Tucker also announced charges and recognized milestones in a number of financial crimes cases, including charges in cases investigated by the task force.
Since September 2023, three cases alleging fraud charges related to Covid-19 programs have been indicted following investigations by the Task Force. The cases are as follows (by date of indictment):
- – Rosaline Natazha Mavaega, 41, and Esau Malele Fualema Jr., 44, of Anchorage, were indicted in September 2023 on major fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and identify theft charges related to an alleged scheme to steal millions of dollars through Covid-19 recovery funds. The indictment alleges they stole over $1.6 million.
- – Lloyd Pennebaker, 58, of Anchorage, was indicted in October 2023 on wire fraud charges related to false statements regarding his criminal history he allegedly made on EIDL loan applications from April 2020 to May 2021. The indictment alleges he received $122,500 in federal funding from the EIDL loans.
- – Cheryl Labrie, 36, of Anchorage, was indicted in January 2024 on wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges related to an alleged scheme to obtain and launder nearly $1 million she received through multiple EIDL and PPP loans and advances over a year.
- Tucker also highlighted other financial crimes her office has investigated:
- – Garett Elder, 30, of Anchorage, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Nov. 13, 2023, after defrauding more than $26 million from over 170 victims in a large-scale investment fraud scheme.
- – The U.S. will collect over $350,000 in treble damages and penalties after a default judgement was ordered in the False Claims Act case against Michael Hanzuk II, 31, of Anchorage. Hanzuk was a former co-owner of Arm Rippin Toys Inc. and was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act in August 2022. In 2020, Hanzuk applied for an EIDL loan of over $100,000 and falsely certified that he and Arm Rippin Toys were not engaged in “any illegal activity,” despite their active conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.
- – Saray Consuelo Sarmiento Angarita Lockwood, 58, of Kenai, was sentenced to one year in prison on Dec. 18, 2023, after she and her late husband made a materially false statement in a bankruptcy case.
- Melissa Dobbs, 50, of the Matanuska Valley, was indicted in January 2024 on charges of healthcare fraud and allegedly making false statements on a loan application.
- – Jayel Jean Lane, 34, of Anchorage, was sentenced to nine months in prison on Feb. 7, 2024, after she stole and misused Social Security benefits for roughly seven years. Lane stole over $76,000 in benefits that she applied for on behalf of a minor and spent the money for her own personal use.
