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  1. Press Releases

Justice Department Announces New Charges, Convictions, and Sentencings in Ongoing Initiative Targeting Pandemic Relief Fraud

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U.S. Department of Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

The Department of Justice announced today new criminal charges, convictions, and sentences as part of its ongoing initiative to prosecute fraud in connection with various pandemic relief programs under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, as well as other crimes relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Criminal Division and our partners are committed to identifying and holding accountable those who exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for their own gain,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As these cases demonstrate, we are unwavering in our determination to prosecute those who have defrauded relief programs meant to help struggling Americans during the pandemic.”

United States v. Ranna Shamiya and Jaimi Jansen

On Sept. 28, Ranna Shamiya, 41, of Ukiah, California, and Jaimi Jansen, 40, of Santa Cruz, California, were each sentenced to three years of probation in the Northern District of California to making false statements related to health care matters as part of a COVID-19 health care fraud scheme.

According to court documents, from in or around April 2021 to in or around July 2021, the defendants aided and abetted a scheme by a California-licensed naturopathic doctor to sell homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets and to falsify COVID-19 vaccination cards by making it appear that customers had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized vaccines.

The HHS-OIG, FBI, and FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI) investigated the cases. Fraud Section Trial Attorney Babu Kaza and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Lloyd-Lovett and Kristina Green for the Northern District of California prosecuted the cases.

Topic(s): 
Coronavirus

Component(s): 
Criminal Division
Criminal - Criminal Fraud Section
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Press Release Number: 
22-1116
 

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