BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A convicted Baton Rouge tax preparer used other people’s identities to get over $200,000 in fake claims for a pandemic relief loan from the federal government.
Pamela Albert, 51, was sentenced to 33 months in prison after being convicted of wire fraud. Albert will also serve three years of supervised release and pay $233,180 in restitution.
According to United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr., Albert submitted her name and other people’s names, birth dates and social security numbers to make fake claims to the Paycheck Protection Program in 2021. Gathe said she submitted fake tax documents for loan claims that were based on business profits and losses that didn’t exist.
Albert received over $200,000 in PPP benefits in her personal bank accounts and kept the funds to herself or gave some to others, Gathe said.
