Date: Nov. 25, 2025

Contact: [email protected]

SOUTH BEND - Tonya R. Winston of South Bend, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Cristal C. Brisco after being found guilty by a jury in August of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of theft of government money, announced Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor.

Winston was sentenced to 52 months of prison followed by 2 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $453,808.48 in restitution.

According to documents in the case, Winston devised a scheme to fraudulently obtain loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, which was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program intended to provide loans to small businesses. Winston obtained multiple loans for herself by submitting false loan applications, and she helped others to do the same. She also wrongfully obtained local housing benefits by misrepresenting her finances.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Luke N. Reilander and Joel Gabrielse.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement 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 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.