FOUR INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED IN PANDEMIC RELIEF FRAUD SCHEME

Three New York residents and one Georgia resident were sentenced in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, for participating in a pandemic relief fraud scheme.

Monique Horton of East Rockaway, New York, was sentenced on June 22, 2026, to four weeks of community service and ordered to pay $32,089 in restitution. Karima Branche of Decatur, Georgia, was sentenced on June 23, 2026, to three years of probation, two weeks of community service, and $51,666 in restitution. Carol Horton of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced on June 24, 2026, to five weeks of community service and $42,500 in restitution. Faye Wilkie-Fields of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced on June 24, 2026, to three years of probation and $20,833 in restitution.

A prior investigation identified an Amtrak lead service attendant who had received a suspicious Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). The employee told our agents that Wilkie-Fields assisted him in fraudulently applying for the EIDL and that he paid Wilkie-Fields a $3,000 kickback in exchange. Wilke-Fields and her family members personally received over $160,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to which they were not entitled. Paul Neufville, a Florida resident and a codefendant in the case, also assisted numerous business owners and individuals in fraudulently applying for PPP and EIDL loans in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $2,500.

Neufville and another defendant in this case are scheduled to be sentenced on a future date.