Kennebunk woman pleads guilty to fraudulently obtaining PPP funds during pandemic

Date: Jan. 13, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Portland, ME — A Kennebunk woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland today to wire fraud.

According to court records, in April 2021, Meghan Martell submitted an application to a California lender for a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Martell falsely stated on the application that she was the sole proprietor of a beauty salon with gross income in 2019 of $99,870. She also submitted fraudulent documentation in support of the application, including a false tax form. The California lender transferred $20,806 in PPP funds to Martell’s bank account in Maine.

Martell faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000, followed by up to three years of supervised release. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated the case.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP): The PPP was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses. The PPP permitted participating third-party lenders to approve and disburse SBA-backed PPP loans to cover payroll, fixed debts, utilities, rent/mortgage, accounts payable and other bills incurred by qualifying businesses during, and resulting from, the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP loans were fully guaranteed by the SBA.

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.