A man from the Slovak Republic has been sentenced to 38 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief loans. U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark handed down the sentence and ordered Mark Ethan Jermain to repay $738,118.
Jermain, who previously went by the name Arsene Millogo, submitted three false Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications while in Slovakia between April 26, 2020, and July 16, 2021. The first application sought $80,000 for Crazyeats LLC, a company he established in Missouri in 2017. On May 13, 2020, he applied for $325,275 for Unimentors LLC. He later submitted a Second Draw PPP loan application for an additional $325,275 on February 5, 2021.
The funds were transferred to Slovakia and used for personal purchases rather than supporting American businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic as intended.
“Mark Ethan Jermain fraudulently applied for and received PPP loans for businesses that didn’t exist anywhere but on paper," said FBI St. Louis Special Agent in Charge Ashley Johnson. "Furthermore, he used the identity of a former business partner...to defraud the taxpayer funded program out of nearly three quarters of a million dollars."
Jermain was apprehended by FBI agents at an airport in New York before attempting to leave the country on September 7 after returning to the U.S. on August 17 and being indicted on August 30.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in June.
The case was investigated by the FBI with Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll prosecuting.
The Department of Justice encourages anyone with information about pandemic fraud to contact their National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline or submit a report online.
