GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man was sentenced to federal prison this week in a plot to obtain nearly $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
Jemar Mason, 47, of Grand Rapids, was sentenced to seven years, three months in prison by U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering.
He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was ordered to pay $1,495,067 in restitution.
He will be on supervised release for six years when he his prison term ends.
“Instead of treating the COVID-19 pandemic as a tragedy, Jemar Mason welcomed it as an opportunity to get rich quick,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Related: Grand jury indicts 5 for fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds for personal use
Mason is one of five defendants tied to the fraud scheme. He and another Grand Rapids-area man, David Kurbanov, were accused of using “non-functional” companies to apply for funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
They enlisted Andre Jackson, a former Georgia police officer, and James Williams, another Atlanta man, to apply for forgivable Payroll Protection Program loans.
Kurbanov was earlier sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Williams was sentenced to two years, nine months for the same convictions.
Dennis Lynn Cartwright Jr. helped the defendants attempt to transfer the money to cover up the fraud,…
