MARSHALL COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced a Mississippi couple has been sentenced in connection with their leadership role in a multi-million-dollar PPP fraud scheme.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Lakisha Pearson, 48, of Holly Springs, to a 75-month jail sentence to run consecutively to a previous 52-month sentence, totaling 127 months. Robert Pearson, 54, of Holly Springs, was sentenced to a 110-months for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with fraudulent PPP loans.

The judge also ordered the Pearsons to repay $3,364,052 in restitution.

The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business Administration that provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other related business expenses. 

According to prosecutors, the Pearsons owned Unity Tax Express and helped numerous individuals file for and receive fraudulent PPP loans in return for a kickback. The PPP loan applications included false information regarding the number of employees and the extent of the claimed business operations.

In a related prosecution in January of this year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced Lakisha Pearson to a 52-month jail sentence for mail fraud in connection with falsely claimed IRS Employee Retention Tax Credit for others. The judge also ordered Pearson to repay $15,942,586.77 in restitution in that case.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.