ATLANTA– A prominent former Assistant City Attorney has received jail time after being found guilty on various counts of fraud involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). After being found guilty in December on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and three accounts of wire fraud, Shelitha Robertson, 62, has been given a seven-year and three month sentence.

Details of the Case

Following her conviction, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg imposed her sentence which also includes three years of supervised release. In depth investigation revealed that Robertson, who also served as an Atlanta police officer, and her associates had submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications for four different businesses.

These applications, federal prosecutors argue, excessively stated the businesses’ average monthly payroll and the actual number of employees they had, enabling Robertson and her team to acquire larger PPP loans than they were legally entitled to receive.

Involved Co-conspirator

Moreover, her co-conspirator, named as Chandra Norton in an official release, played a part in this scheme by submitting false tax statements to corroborate the inflated figures. Processed loan funds were eventually transferred to Norton, as well as to Robertson’s family members’ accounts.

Robertson allegedly inflamed the case by using the fraudulently obtained loans to lavish herself with luxury items, which included a 10-carat diamond ring.

Greed Driven Deception

“The motivation behind Robertson’s scheming activities was pure greed,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan in a statement. “Through her deceptive actions, she succeeded in securing funds that were initially meant to offer emergency financial assistance to small businesses that were struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

However, Robertson’s fraudulent activities did not stop there. It was reported that she donated $1,000 to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s Democratic primary election campaign. This donation is alleged to have been made at around the same time Robertson was in receipt of the PPP loans.

The act of an esteemed former assistant city attorney defecting to such nefarious activities significantly illuminates the moral hazard formed in the opportunistic exploitation of the pandemic relief funds meant to support genuine small businesses in dire need.

This is a developing story and more information will follow suit as it becomes available.