Date: Sept. 26, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov DENVER — The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Shambrica Washington, now a resident of Parker, Texas, was sentenced to 90 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and restitution of $542,924.45 after being found guilty by a federal jury on 31 counts including wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, and false claims offenses. According to facts established at trial, Washington obtained loans from the Small Business Administration for two Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and from JP Morgan Chase for two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for a total of $485,749.00 between March of 2020 and July of 2020. During that time, Washington obtained the loans under two business names. One was “Tiny Toes and Tiaras,” which was an online luxury baby boutique based in Colorado Springs. To obtain the fraudulent loans, Washington misrepresented how many people were employed by her businesses and the businesses’ wages, revenues, and costs of operation. She used the funds to purchase a car, a custom-built home, pay for elective surgery, and pay credit card debt and other bills. She then applied for millions of dollars in additional loans, grants, and tax credits, including by applying for advance tax credits from the Internal Revenue Service and a $6 million grant through a Small Business Administration program intended for shuttered concert venues. “People who steal taxpayer dollars for personal benefit can and will pay the price,” said Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Matt Kirsch. “Our office has and will continue to find people who have abused Covid-19 funds and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.” “Shambrica Washington fraudulently obtained PPP and EIDL designated to provide Americans financial relief during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tom Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Denver Field Office. “Washington’s sentence demonstrates the federal government's commitment to holding individuals accountable who defrauded critical programs that served to provide aid for families and small businesses.” United States District Court Judge William J. Martinez presided over the trial. The IRS-CI Denver Field Office and the FBI Denver Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Craig Fansler and Taylor Glogiewicz handled the prosecution. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
