$4.5M Augusta COVID aid fraud case tops list for federal prosecutors

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The case of a Richmond County man was the biggest one during a summer-long federal crackdown on COVID aid fraud in the region.

Kamario Thomas, 42, of Augusta, was sentenced earlier this summer to 38 months in prison for a $4.5 million scheme to submit fraudulent applications for COVID-19 small business relief funding.

Thomas submitted more than 60 fraudulent loan applications for pandemic relief and got hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Thomas was ordered to pay full restitution of $4.5 million.

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The case was more than 20 in the federal court system’s Southern District of Georgia from May through July, involving a total of $10.9 million in alleged COVID-19 relief fraud.

Thomas’ case was the largest of them in of monetary value, according to a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg.

Funding through the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act provided more than $650 billion to assist small businesses.

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“Unfortunately, fraudsters tapped into this program for their own profit, and this nationwide effort seeks to hold them able for their widespread fraud,” Steinberg said.

Other cases in the Southern District’s crackdown included:

Bernard Okojie, 41, of McDonough, who used information for non-existent companies to file more than 20 fraudulent loan applications for pandemic relief aid, causing losses in excess of $3.5 million.
Jacqueline Somesso, 55, of Savannah, who submitted a fake pandemic relief loan application resulting in losses of $570,736.
Kyle Waldron, 58, of Douglas, who faces a $326,461 civil forfeiture complaint arising from his filing of numerous fraudulent loan applications for pandemic relief aid.
A civil forfeiture complaint that continues to be litigated concerning an Atlanta condominium on Peachtree Road Northwest. The $328,000 condo was purchased with money obtained fraudulently through pandemic relief loans.

How to help

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or visiting https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.