Dallas County PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

Dallas County PPP Loan Fraud Lawyers

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about PPP fraud investigations in Dallas: the silence isn’t safety. It’s strategy. You took that loan in 2020. Maybe 2021. And now it’s 2025 and nothing has happened. No knock on the door. No FBI agents at your office. No letters from the Department of Justice. Five years of nothing. You’ve started to relax. You’ve told yourself that if they were going to come after you, they would have done it by now.

That assumption is wrong. And understanding why it’s wrong might be the difference between preparing a defense and walking into a courtroom blindsided.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal here is education first – helping you understand what you’re actually facing before you make decisions that could define the rest of your life. Todd Spodek has represented clients in federal criminal matters for decades, including individuals who thought the government had moved on only to discover the investigation was just beginning.

The False Comfort of Time Passing

There’s a reason you feel safe right now. State criminal cases move fast. Someone commits a crime, police investigate, charges get filed within weeks or months. Thats the system most people understand. It makes sense. If your guilty, you get caught quickly. If nothing happens for years, your probably fine.

Federal investigations dont work that way. At all.

Consider what happened to Stephanie Hockridge. She ran Blueacorn, a PPP lender service that processed applications during 2020 and 2021. Her scheme involved fabricating payroll records, tax documents, and bank statements for borrowers. She got caught. But heres the thing – she wasnt sentenced until November 2025. The applications were from five years earlier. That’s not unusual. Thats the norm.

Or look at Tamara Starks from Mansfield, Texas – just outside Dallas. Her scheme ran from May 2020 to May 2021. She processed over 100 fraudulent PPP applications totaling $8.5 million. When did the hammer fall? 2025. She got 86 months – over seven years in federal prison. The government took its time. It built its case. Then it crushed her.

Why Dallas Federal Prosecutors Are Still Coming After 2020 PPP Loans

Heres something that should make your stomach drop: Congress specifically extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud to ten years. That means a loan application you submitted in April 2020 can be prosecuted until April 2030. The government has five more years to come after 2020 applications. Six more years for 2021 applications.

The Northern District of Texas – which covers Dallas County – isnt just maintaining their PPP fraud prosecution efforts. Their accelerating them. The DOJ COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force released numbers in 2024 that should terrify anyone who took a questionable loan: over 3,500 defendants charged nationally, $1.4 billion recovered, and 81% of defendants sentenced received prison time.

And those numbers keep growing. In June 2025, seven members of the Jackson family from Dallas all pleaded guilty to PPP fraud conspiracy. The whole family. Parents, children, in-laws. All of them facing up to five years each. The government dosent care about your family relationships. Everyone who touched the fraud is a potential defendant.

How the Investigation Machine Works (And Why You Didnt Know)

Let me explain why you havent heard anything. Because this is were people get it completly wrong.

Federal investigations are silent by design. Grand jury proceedings are secret by law. When the FBI sends a subpoena to your bank, your bank cant tell you. When prosecutors subpoena your tax preparer’s records, you dont get a courtesy call. The investigation happens behind a curtain you cant see through.

Heres how it actualy works in practice. The SBA Office of Inspector General identifies anomalies in PPP applications – things like businesses that didnt exist before 2020, payroll numbers that dont match tax records, multiple applications from the same IP address. They compile lists. They cross-reference with IRS data. They send referrals to the FBI and US Attorneys offices across the country.

The Dallas FBI field office has dedicated resources for pandemic relief fraud. Their not overwhelmed. Their methodical. They take there time building cases because federal prosecutors want iron-clad evidence before they bring charges. A 90% conviction rate isnt an accident – its the result of waiting until the case is unbeatable.

By the time an FBI agent shows up at your door, the investigation isnt beginning. Its essentialy over. The charging decision has probably already been made. You’re not at the start of the process – your at the end. Everything thats going to be discovered has been discovered. The witnesses they need have been interviewed. The documents they need have been collected. Your walking into a conversation where they already know the answers to every question their going to ask.

Think about that for a second. The knock on the door isnt the investigation starting. Its the investigation finishing. Youve been living your life normaly while agents have been building a case file with your name on it. By the time they contact you, their ready.

Steven Jalloul learned this the hard way. He ran Royalty Tax & Financial Services in the Dallas area. He filed 170 fraudulent PPP applications for over 160 clients, seeking $23 million. The government waited. Built the case. When they finally moved, he got ten years federal prison. And becuase he was already serving time for tax fraud at FCI-Seagoville, the sentences run consecutively. Hes looking at sixteen years total.

The Preparer Who Helped You Is Probably Helping Them Now

Heres an uncomfortable truth that most PPP fraud lawyers wont tell you until your paying them hourly: the person who helped you get that loan is almost certainley cooperating with federal investigators. The tax preparer. The accountant. The consultant who said they could get you approved. Their either already talking to prosecutors, or their about to be.

Think about it from there perspective. Steven Jalloul had 160 clients. When the feds came for him, what do you think he did? He started giving up names. Every client who knew the application was fraudulent. Every client who provided false documents. Every client who winked and nodded when he inflated their payroll numbers.

The Jalloul case is basicly a roadmap for how this works. He collected $972,114 in fees from clients for filing those fraudulent applications. The government didnt just prosecute him – they now have a list of 160 people who used his services. Each of those people is a potential defendant. Each of those people probly thinks their safe because they havent heard anything.

But the government has there name. The government has there application. The government knows the application was filed by a guy who just got convicted of fraud. You think thats going away? You think they dont have a list somewhere, working through it methodicaly?

Real Dallas Cases: What 7 Years in Prison Actually Looks Like

Lets talk about actual sentences in Dallas PPP fraud cases. Not hypotheticals. Not what might happen. What actualy happened to real people in this district.

Shantelle Hawkins from DeSoto, Texas – thats part of Dallas County – filed 17 fraudulent PPP applications totaling over $1.8 million. She pleaded guilty in October 2024 and got sentenced in June 2025. Her sentence: 41 months. Almost three and a half years in federal prison. Plus she has to forfeit property she bought with fraud proceeds and pay restitution. Shes not going to be home for her kids birthdays. Shes not going to be at family holidays. Shes sitting in a federal facility because she thought the government wouldnt notice 17 applications.

Tamara Starks from Mansfield got 86 months. Over seven years. And $4.4 million in restitution she’ll be paying for the rest of her life. Think about what seven years means. If you have children, they’ll be seven years older when you get out. Your daughter who’s ten will be seventeen. Your son who’s starting middle school will be finishing high school. You miss everything. Graduations. First dates. College applications. All of it.

Dinesh Sah from Coppell – another Dallas suburb – sought $24.8 million across 15 fraudulent applications. He received $17.3 million. He bought a 2020 Bentley convertible. Multiple homes. Made international transfers. When the feds caught him, he had to forfeit 8 homes, luxury vehicles, and $7.2 million in proceeds. Hes facing up to 30 years. The lifestyle looked good for a few years. Now its all gone and hes looking at potentialy spending the rest of his productive years in prison.

Stephanie Hockridge – the Blueacorn co-founder – got 10 years and has to pay back $63 million. Thats million with an M. She used to be a TV news anchor in Phoenix. Now shes a federal inmate. Her husband Nathan Reis was also convicted. Both of them. Gone.

These arnt statistics. These are people who woke up one morning thinking they got away with something, and now their sitting in federal prison. People with families. People with careers. People who probly told themselves the same things your telling yourself right now.

The $20,000 Myth: Small Loans Are Getting Prosecuted Too

One of the most dangerous assumptions people make about PPP fraud is that the government is only going after big cases. You tell yourself your loan was only $50,000. Or $30,000. Or $20,000. Surely the feds have bigger fish to fry. Surely there focused on the people who stole millions.

This is exactly wrong.

Thelma Anderson was a Dallas County prosecutor. An actual prosecutor. Someone who puts other people in prison for a living. She applied for a PPP loan of $20,817. Not twenty million. Not two hundred thousand. Twenty thousand eight hundred and seventeen dollars.

She got indicted. Wire fraud. Money laundering charges because she used the money for rent, food, and entertainment instead of payroll.

If they went after a prosecutor for a $20,000 loan, what makes you think your safe?

Read that again. A prosecutor. Someone who understood the system better then almost anyone. Someone who knew exactly what federal charges meant. Someone who watched other people get sentenced for fraud. She still got indicted for a loan that many people would consider too small to matter. If the feds will go after one of their own for twenty grand, their not going to give you a pass because your amount was similar.

There is no amount too small for prosecution. That’s not my opinion. Thats what the evidence shows.

What That Target Letter or FBI Visit Actually Means

If youve received a target letter from the US Attorneys office in the Northern District of Texas, or if FBI agents have shown up wanting to talk, you need to understand what that actualy means.

A target letter means the grand jury has identified you as a likely defendant. Not a witness. Not someone they want information from. A target. The investigation is essentialy complete and their telling you charges are coming unless something changes dramaticly.

An FBI visit without a warrant is trickier. Sometimes there gathering information. Sometimes their giving you a chance to incriminate yourself before they finalize charges. Either way, anything you say can and will be used against you. The agents are trained to seem friendly and reasonable. Their trained to make you feel like cooperating is in your best interest. Often it isnt.

Heres what you should know: you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have an attorney present before answering any questions. These arnt just words they read on TV shows. These are constitutional protections that exist because talking to federal agents without a lawyer is one of the most dangerous things you can do.

Your Options in Dallas County Right Now

If your reading this because you took a PPP loan and your not sure whether it was legitimate, you have three basic options. Each one comes with there own risks. None of them are perfect. But doing nothing and hoping for the best is definately the worst strategy.

Option 1: Wait and hope. This is what most people do. You tell yourself the investigation is probably focused on bigger targets. You hope your name never comes up. Maybe it works out. But if it doesnt – if that knock comes three years from now – you’ll have wasted years you could have spent preparing. You wont have thought through your defense. You wont have organized documents. You wont have a lawyer who already understands your situation. Youll be scrambling at the worst possible moment.

Option 2: Voluntary disclosure. In some cases, coming forward before your contacted can result in more favorable treatment. The DOJ has shown willingness to credit cooperation, including self-disclosure. The Sentencing Guidelines specificaly allow for reductions when defendants accept responsibility early. But this is risky. Your essentialy confessing to conduct the government might never have discovered. What if your application wasnt actualy fraudulent? What if the issues were minor? Coming forward could create problems that wouldnt have existed otherwise. This requires very careful strategic thinking with experienced counsel who can evaluate your specific situation.

Option 3: Get counsel now and prepare. Even if you dont do anything proactive, having a lawyer review your situation means you’ll be ready if something happens. You’ll know what your exposure looks like. You’ll have thought through responses. You wont be making panic decisions at 6am when agents are at your door. A good federal defense attorney can look at your PPP application, compare it to your actual business records, and tell you honestly what your facing. Maybe its nothing. Maybe its something that can be explained. Maybe its something that requires immediate action. But you wont know until someone looks.

The consultation itself is protected by attorney-client privelege. Nothing you tell a lawyer can be used against you. Thats the whole point of the privelege – to let people get honest legal advice without fear.

The Reality of Federal Sentencing in Dallas

Federal sentences are not like state sentences. There is no parole in the federal system. If you get 86 months like Tamara Starks, you will serve at least 85% of that time. Good behavior credits can reduce it slightly, but your not getting out in half the time like some state systems allow.

Let that sink in. 85%. If the judge says 60 months, your serving 51 months minimum. If the judge says 120 months, your serving 102 months. There is no early release for good behavior beyond that small reduction. No parole board to petition. No way to talk your way out early.

The Northern District of Texas federal judges follow the Sentencing Guidelines. Those guidelines consider the amount of money involved, whether you were an organizer, how many victims there were, whether you obstructed justice, and whether you accepted responsibility. A $100,000 fraud has a much lower guideline range than a $10 million fraud. But even small amounts can result in prison time when fraud is involved. The base offense level for fraud guarentees prison time in most cases.

Heres what else the guidelines consider: enhancement for abuse of position of trust, enhancement for sophisticated means, enhancement for large numbers of victims. Each of these can add years to a sentence. The federal sentencing calculation is complicated and unforgiving. Judges have some discretion, but they rarley deviate dramaticaly from the guidelines.

And once you have a federal conviction, everything changes. Professional licenses can be revoked. Certain jobs become unavailable. Travel to other countries becomes complicated or impossible. The collateral consequences extend far beyond the prison sentence. Your trying to rebuild your life with a federal fraud conviction on your record. Every background check, every job application, every professional oppertunity – that conviction follows you.

If your facing potential PPP fraud charges in Dallas County or anywhere in the Northern District of Texas, the time to talk to a lawyer is now. Not after the FBI shows up. Not after you recieve a target letter. Now. While you still have options. While the decisions you make can actualy affect the outcome. The difference between reaching out today and waiting could be the difference between having options and having none.

At Spodek Law Group, we handle federal criminal defense matters across the country, including the Northern District of Texas. Our approach is to understand your situation completly before discussing strategy. Every case is different. Every client’s circumstances are unique. What worked for someone else might not work for you, and what seems hopeless might have angles you havent considered.

Call 212-300-5196 for a confidential consultation. The silence youve been hearing isnt protection. Its just the calm before everything changes. Dont wait until theres nothing left to do.