Jerry Baptiste, 47, of Miami, was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to steal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the sentencing on February 28.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ordered Baptiste to serve three years of supervised release and pay $830,417 in restitution.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators used an unprecedented global crisis to defraud the government and the American people,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie Jr. “Today’s tough but fair sentence sends the message that stealing from the government does not pay.”
Baptiste was the final defendant to be sentenced in a scheme involving 20 individuals who fraudulently obtained PPP loans by submitting false applications to the government. All defendants in the case have been convicted, with sentences ranging from probation to 15 years in prison.
Notable sentences include Darrell Thomas, who was sentenced to 15 years and ordered to pay $13.2 million in restitution, and Teldrin Foster, who received 121 months and $9.6 million in restitution. Collectively, the defendants were ordered to pay more than $47 million in restitution.
This case highlights the severe consequences for those who exploited the PPP program designed to assist businesses during the pandemic.
