Three Treasure Valley residents were found guilty of fraud related to COVID-19 relief programs. Several others were also convicted.
Idaho’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, created a task force a year ago to investigate abuses of pandemic-era economic aid programs like the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Unemployment Insurance and Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
Hurwit said in a news release Wednesday that the task force has now criminally charged a dozen defendants and obtained civil judgments against three others. The amount of fraud involved involved in the cases is over $7 million, he said.
According to the release, among those convicted are:
Sikutwa, 43, of Boise, who was found guilty of bank fraud and money laundering.
According to court documents, he filed three fraudulent applications and obtained about $347,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans from two banks using the identities of two people he knew. Sikutwa used the money for personal and non-business related expenses and transferred more than $190,000 of it to offshore accounts, the release said.
He was sentenced on Sept. 25 to 30 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
In 2013, when Sikutwa was 34, he was found guilty of submitting false tax returns for a refund, according to a news release at the time from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho. Federal judge Lynn Winmill sentenced him to 21 months...
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