A contractor from the St. Louis area has been sentenced to three years in prison after fraudulently obtaining $1.7 million in pandemic relief loans and ordered to repay the full amount.
Coretta “Cory” Elliott, 53, owned CMT LLC, which provided services such as commercial construction, demolition, roofing, landscaping, and remediation. Operating under the name CMT Roofing LLC as well, Elliott received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan of $875,000 in 2020 and another for $833,333 in 2021. She falsely certified that these funds would be used for legitimate business expenses and inflated her company’s payroll numbers to qualify for larger amounts. Later, she obtained forgiveness on both loans by submitting false claims about how the money was spent.
The PPP was designed to help businesses maintain their workforce and cover essential expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith at Tuesday’s hearing, Elliott viewed the program as an opportunity to “save herself financially.” Investigators found that she moved $200,000 into her personal investment account and used more than half a million dollars to pay union dues owed by her companies—dues that covered health insurance and other benefits for employees. Additional funds were also used for personal purposes.
Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division commented: "We will never know whether Coretta Elliott’s business would have legitimately qualified for disaster relief funds. However, by submitting substantial false information across multiple applications, she fraudulently secured $1.7 million in funds," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "Her deceit not only led to her unlawfully obtaining far more than she may have otherwise been entitled to, but it also gave her an unfair competitive advantage over other local contractors. This type of criminal conduct, driven by greed, undermines the integrity of the disaster relief system and harms those who play by the rules."
Elliott pleaded guilty in November to two counts of wire fraud before U.S. District Court.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith.
