Chesterfield Woman Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Relief Fraud
State of VA - A Chesterfield woman pled guilty today to making false statements to steal from multiple COVID-19 relief programs. Sheila C. Bynum-Coleman, 54, admitted to filing for and receiving fraudulent loans totaling over $225,000.
Court documents state that the activity occurred from approximately May 12, 2020, through March 18, 2021. Bynum-Coleman obtained at least nine fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. These applications were submitted on behalf of eight different businesses she and her husband, Rashad H. Coleman, purportedly operated.
To secure the funds, Bynum-Coleman made numerous false certifications. She inflated annual sales and revenue figures to increase the loan amounts for which the businesses could qualify.
Furthermore, fabricated Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents were submitted to support these inflated figures. Despite submitting excerpts of a 2020 income tax return with the applications, neither Bynum-Coleman nor her husband filed income tax returns for that year.
Both have pled guilty to failing to file 2020 tax returns.
Additional fraud was committed against the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). While representing to financial institutions that she operated numerous businesses, Bynum-Coleman told the VEC she was unemployed from March 15, 2020, through February 13, 2021.
This allowed her to obtain pandemic unemployment benefits. She falsely certified that she had not received PPP funds during the same period. False statements were also made to the U.S. Small Business Administration regarding the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program.
The fraudulently obtained funds were used for personal expenses. These expenditures included payments on a home loan and credit card bills, as well as the purchase of luxury clothing.
Additionally, on May 29, 2020, Bynum-Coleman transferred $10,000 of PPP funds into a bank account for her political campaign, "Friends of Sheila for Delegate." This transfer occurred approximately one week after she received $62,500 in loans.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Avi Panth and Thomas A. Garnett. The investigation was conducted by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Mid-Atlantic Region and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office.
