A former Louisiana resident has been sentenced for her role in a scheme that involved preparing over 110 fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans totaling more than $1.1 million. Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that Sharnae Every, 30, of Houston, Texas, received a sentence on October 9, 2025, for conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
The investigation began after the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) referred the case regarding suspected fraudulent PPP loans. Authorities found that at least 110 sole proprietor loan applications from the Thibodeaux, Louisiana area included identical invoices and federal tax forms under the same business name and amounts.
Court documents revealed that Every created a fictitious company named “Natural Hair Afro, LLC” based in Houma, Louisiana. She used this fake business name on nearly all fraudulent loan applications and advertised under different aliases on Facebook to recruit individuals seeking PPP funds. Every submitted false applications through various online platforms such as Blueacorn and produced fabricated invoices, bank statements, and tax documents to support the submissions.
She charged clients between $45 and $120 to prepare each application and required an additional payment of approximately $3,500 once loans were approved. Payments were primarily collected via Cash App or deposited into her Current account or her boyfriend’s account.
United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier sentenced Every to 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.
According to Simpson: "On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts." More details about these efforts can be found at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
The PRAC Fraud Task Force agent led the investigation into this case. The PRAC was created to promote transparency in federal pandemic spending oversight by identifying risks across programs amounting to more than $5 trillion allocated for COVID-19 relief. Its task force consists of agents from 15 Inspectors General who investigate cases like PPP fraud.
Several agencies contributed assistance during this case: Veterans Administration Office of Inspector General; United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations; United States Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force; Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office; Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office; Thibodeaux Police Department; and Louisiana Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian M. Klebba (Chief of Financial Crimes Unit) and Edward Rivera (COVID-19 Fraud Coordinator) prosecuted the case.
Anyone with information about attempted COVID-19 fraud can contact authorities at the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline (866-720-5721) or file a report online at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
