Charlotte PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

Charlotte PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

You applied for a PPP loan in 2020. Maybe you did it yourself. Maybe you hired someone who “knew the system.” A preparer. A consultant. Someone who promised they could get it approved. And now its 2025 and you haven’t heard anything, so you think you’re safe.

Heres what you need to understand: your preparer kept records. Every client. Every application. Every inflated number. And when federal investigators arrested Jeannetta Blackmon in Charlotte in March 2025 for processing $1.5 million in fraudulent PPP loans, they didn’t just get her. They got her entire client list.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you real information about PPP fraud defense in Charlotte – the information other law firm websites won’t tell you. We represent business owners across North Carolina who are facing federal PPP investigations, and we believe you deserve to understand exactly what your up against before making any decisions.

The Western District of North Carolina has prosecuted 28 individuals for COVID-19 relief fraud. That’s not a national number. That’s Charlotte. Asheville. Your neighbors. Business owners who made the same desperate decisions you made in spring 2020. And the sentences are real. 24 months. 30 months. 33 months. 48 months. These aren’t warnings. These are people serving time right now.

If your reading this because you hired a PPP preparer who’s now in trouble – or because the FBI showed up asking questions about someone you worked with – you need to understand what happens next. And most of what you think you know is wrong.

Your Preparer’s Client List Is a Prosecution Roadmap

Heres the first thing Charlotte business owners dont understand about PPP fraud investagations: when investigators catch a preparer, they dont just prosecute the preparer. They get a complete client database.

Jeannetta Blackmon made over $300,000 in fees helping Charlotte business owners apply for PPP loans. She charged a percentage of each loan she helped clients obtain. She knew the system. She knew what numbers to use. She knew how to get applications approved.

And she kept meticulous records of every single client.

When federal investigators arrested her, they didnt get one defendant. They got a roadmap to every person she ever helped. Every name. Every application she prepared. Every fabricated document she created. Every business owner who signed on the dotted line.

Think about what that means for a second. Your preparer – the person you trusted to handle everything – is now the goverments star witness against you. They have your file. They have your emails. They have notes from every conversation where you discussed what numbers to put on the application.

The Blueacorn operation processed over 530 fraudulent PPP loans before it collapsed. One company. 530 loans. Thats 530 potential defendants whose names and applications are now in federal hands. Nathan Reis, one of the founders, got 10 years in federal prison. Stephanie Hockridge, another founder, also got 10 years. And somewhere in goverment databases, there are 530 client files waiting to become prosecutions.

Your preparer isnt your allie. Your preparer is either already cooperating with investigators, or theyre about to start. Because heres the uncomfortable truth: the first person to cooperate gets the best deal. Your preparer knows this. Their attorney certainly knows this.

If you hired someone to help you apply for a PPP loan, you need to assume investigators already have your information. The question isnt whether they know about you. The question is what your going to do before they contact you.

Family Members Don’t Protect Each Other – They Prosecute Each Other

Heres the second thing Charlotte business owners get wrong: they think family will protect them. Spouse wont testify against spouse. Parent wont turn on child. Blood is thicker than federal prison time.

Thats not how this actualy works.

The Freitekh case in Charlotte tells you everything you need to know. Izzat Freitekh and his son Tarik ran several restaurants – La Shish Kabob, Green Apple Catering, Aroma Packaging. They submitted fraudulent PPP applications for $1.7 million. Father and son. Family buisness. They thought they were in it together.

They went to trial together in March 2022. Federal jury convicted them both of money laundering and other offenses. Father and son, prosecuted together, convicted together. Family loyalty didnt save them. It destroyed them both.

Or look at the Maddox case from 2025. Husband and wife owned a moving company. They submitted loan applications with fabricated tax returns and fictitious financial statments. Applied for over $3.4 million. The husband got sentenced to over 4 years in federal prison. The wife got 1 year.

Same family. Same scheme. Different sentences.

Why the difference? Because one of them made a deal. One of them cooperated. One of them gave the goverment what they needed to prosecute the other more effectivley.

This is the pattern federal prosecutors use every single time. They identify everyone involved – spouses, partners, parents, children – and they make offers. First person to cooperate gets the best deal. Second person gets a worse deal. Third person gets no deal at all.

In Brooklyn, six family members were indicted together for PPP fraud in November 2025. Karima Branche, Faye Wilkie-Fields, Wilworth Branche, Carol Horton, Monique Horton, and Paul Neufville. All family. All indicted. All facing federal charges for a scheme involving $166,000 in fraudulent applications.

The applications contained nearley identical financial information. Each claimed to operate a self-employed buisness. All submitted falsified tax forms. Prosecutors didnt need to break family loyalty – the evidance broke it for them.

If your spouse was involved in your PPP application, you need to understand something. Their interests and your interests are no longer the same. They have their own attorney. They have their own exposure. They have their own incentive to cooperate. And that cooperation will come at your expense.

They Don’t Just Want Prison Time – They Want Your Assets

Heres something else Charlotte business owners dont anticipate: federal prosecutors dont just want to send you to prison. They want to take everything you bought with the PPP money. And everything you bought with money that touched the PPP money. And sometimes assets that had nothing to do with the PPP money at all.

Maurice Kamgaing learned this the hard way. He fraudulently obtained $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief funds and thought hed reinvest wisely. He bought an office building. A real asset. Something that would appreciate. Something he could use for his buisness.

The goverment didnt just sentence him to 33 months in federal prison. They didnt just order $1.45 million in restitution. They entered a forfeiture order against the office building. They took it. Completley.

This is how federal forfeiture works. If an asset was purchased with proceeds of fraud, the goverment can seize it. If funds were commingled – meaning fraud proceeds mixed with legitimate income – they can often seize those assets too. The burden is on you to prove which dollars came from where.

Across the country, investigators have seized luxury watches, boats, motor homes, real estate, and cash. The Michael and Tiffany Fullerton case in Texas is a perfect example. They used $3 million in PPP fraud proceeds to try to start a marijuana grow operation in Oklahoma, buy a motor home, purchase luxury watches, and acquire a boat. The goverment took all of it.

Your restitution order wont just be for the amount you fraudulently obtained. It will include interest. It will include fees. And it will follow you for decades after you finish serving your prison sentence. Your wages will be garnished. Your assets will be monitored. Your financial life will be under goverment supervision for years.

Todd Spodek has seen this pattern destroy families even after prison time ends. The sentence is just the beginning. The financial consequences continue for the rest of your life.

“I Didn’t Know” Doesn’t Work When You Hired an Expert

You might be thinking: “But I didnt know the application was fraudulent. My preparer handled everything. I just signed where they told me to sign.”

Heres why that defense almost never works.

You hired someone who “knew how to get it approved.” You paid them a fee – often a percentage of the loan. You didnt ask too many questions about how they calculated your payroll numbers. You were happy when the money arrived.

From a prosecutors perspective, that entire sequence demonstrates consciousness of guilt. You knew the process required expertise. You paid for that expertise. You deliberatley avoided learning exactly what your expert was doing. Thats called willful blindness, and its just as prosecutable as actual knowledge.

The legal standard isnt “I didnt know.” The legal standard is “a reasonable person would have known.” And when you hire a preparer who charges 10% of your loan amount, when you see payroll figures that dont match your actual employees, when you recieve more money than you expected – a reasonable person would have asked questions.

Your preparer will testify that you provided the information. That you told them how many employees you had. That you approved the application before it was submitted. They have emails. They have text messages. They have notes from phone calls. And their testimony will directly contradict your “I didnt know” defense.

The only defense that actualy works is documented reliance on proffesional advice. That means written evidence – before you applied – that you consulted with an accountant or attorney about eligability requirements, that you recieved specific guidance about what figures to use, and that you followed that guidance in good faith.

Without that paper trail, “I didnt know” is just words. Prosecutors dismiss it every single time.

What 28 Western District Prosecutions Actually Look Like

Lets talk about real sentences. Not hypotheticals. Not national averages. Actual sentences handed down by federal judges in the Western District of North Carolina.

Jeannetta Blackmon (Charlotte) – 30 months in federal prison. March 2025. $1.5 million fraud scheme. Made $300,000 in fees helping clients.

Maurice Kamgaing (Charlotte/Archdale) – 33 months in federal prison. $1.5 million fraud. Office building forfeited. $1.45 million restitution.

Evan Agustin Perez (Charlotte) – 24 months in federal prison. February 2024. $720,000 in fraudulent PPP and EIDL loans.

Maddox Case (Western District) – Husband sentenced to over 4 years. Wife sentenced to 1 year. $3.4 million scheme with fabricated tax returns.

Spenc’r Rickerson (Catawba County) – 6 years in federal prison. Combined PPP fraud and bank robbery. Even small PPP fraud amounts stack with other charges.

Freitekh Father and Son – Both convicted at trial. $1.7 million scheme. Money laundering and other offenses.

See the pattern? Sentences range from 24 months to 6+ years. The Maddox wife got 1 year because she cooperated. The Freitekh family got maximum exposure because they went to trial. Blackmon got 30 months partly because of the volume of clients she helped defraud.

These are Charlotte business owners. Restaurant operators. Moving company owners. People who made the same decisions you made in 2020. People who are now serving federal prison sentences.

Federal prison is different from state prison. Theres no parole in the federal system. You serve at least 85% of your sentence. A 30-month sentence means approximately 25 months actualy incarcerated. Two years away from your family, your buisness, your life.

At Spodek Law Group, we show clients exactly what their facing. Not to scare them, but because informed decisions require understanding consequences. When you know the alternative is potentialy 4 years in federal prison, the value of proper legal representation becomes clear.

The Trial Penalty: Why the Freitekh Family Lost Everything

The Freitekh case deserves special attention because it illustrates something most Charlotte business owners dont understand: going to trial in a PPP fraud case is almost always a catastrophic mistake.

Izzat Freitekh and his son Tarik were charged with $1.7 million in PPP fraud. They submitted fraudulent applications for their restaurant buisnesses – La Shish Kabob, La Shish Kabob Catering, Green Apple Catering, Aroma Packaging. They could have pleaded guilty. They could have negotiated. They could have cooperated.

They chose to fight.

In March 2022, a federal jury convicted them both of money laundering and other offenses. Thats the trial penalty in action.

Federal trials have conviction rates exceeding 90%. Prosecutors dont bring cases they arent certain to win. By the time your case goes to trial, theyve already reviewed every document, interviewed every witness, analyzed every bank record. They know exactly what youll say in your defense, and they have responses prepared.

When you go to trial and lose – which happens over 90% of the time – you face maximum sentencing. No credit for acceptance of responsibilty. No reduction for cooperation. No benefit from saving the goverment the cost of trial.

The Maddox case shows the alternative. Same basic facts – husband and wife, fraudulent applications, fabricated documents. But the wife got 1 year while the husband got over 4 years. The difference was cooperation. The difference was accepting responsibilty. The difference was not forcing the goverment to prove its case at trial.

Todd Spodek always tells clients the same thing: if the evidence is overwhelming, your goal isnt to beat the case. Your goal is to minimize the damage. That might mean early cooperation. That might mean negotiating a favorable plea. That might mean demonstrating genuine remorse before sentencing.

What it almost never means is going to trial.

The Race You’re Already Losing

If anyone else was involved in your PPP application – spouse, partner, accountant, preparer, employee – your in a race you dont know about.

The first person to cooperate gets the best deal. Reduced sentence. Possible immunity. Favorable treatment at sentencing. Prosecutors reward early cooperation because it saves them time and resources.

The second person to cooperate gets a worse deal. They still get credit, but less. Their information is now confirmatory rather than revelatory.

The third person and beyond? They get the worst outcomes. By then, prosecutors have what they need. Additional cooperators provide diminishing value.

Right now, while your sitting here reading this article, the other people involved in your PPP loan might be in a prosecutors office. Your preparer might be explaining exactly how they helped you inflate your payroll numbers. Your buisness partner might be describing the conversations where you discussed what to put on the application. Your spouse might be making a deal to avoid prosecution completley.

You dont know this race is happening until its over.

Clients come to Spodek Law Group and say “I trust my partner, they would never cooperate.” Sometimes theyre right. But sometimes they discover their trusted partner has been working with investigators for months. By then, theres almost nothing we can do.

This is why timing matters more then most people understand. The window to negotiate, to potentialy cooperate first if thats the right strategy, to control the narrative – that window closes without warning.

When Spodek Law Group Takes Your Call

You call 212-300-5196. Someone answers. Not a receptionist. Someone who can actualy talk to you about your situation.

We understand that if your reading this, your probably terrified. Maybe you havent slept in weeks. Maybe you just learned your preparer was arrested. Maybe you received a letter from the SBA asking for documentation. Maybe the FBI left a business card at your office.

Heres what working with Spodek Law Group on a Charlotte PPP fraud case actualy looks like:

First, we understand your specific situation. Not generalities. Your loan. Your preparer. Your exposure. Who else was involved. What communications have happened. What evidence exists.

Second, we identify where you actualy stand. Is there an active investigation? Has your preparer been arrested? Have other clients already been contacted? Are there cooperating witnesses? How strong is the goverments case?

Third, we explore your options. Should you be proactive? Should you wait? Is cooperation the right strategy? Is there a legitimate defense? What are the realistic outcomes?

Fourth, we give you a clear picture of what your facing. Best case. Worst case. What factors influence where you fall on that spectrum. What you can do to improve your position.

This isnt about making promises we cant keep. Its about replacing fear with information. When you understand what your actualy facing, you can make rational decisions instead of panicking into mistakes.

Todd Spodek built Spodek Law Group on one principle: clients deserve the truth, even when its uncomfortable. We’re not going to tell you everything will be fine if it wont. We’re going to tell you exactly what we see and work with you to navigate it.

If your a Charlotte business owner with questions about a PPP loan – whether thats a formal investigation or just growing anxiety about a preparer you worked with – call us at 212-300-5196. The consultation is free. The cost of waiting isnt.

The goverment has years to prosecute you. But the window to protect yourself is closing faster than you think.