Hammond Man Indicted for False Statements and Theft of Government Funds Related to The Cares Act

NEW ORLEANS - Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that DARRELL HARLAND ("HARLAND"), age 43, of Hammond, Louisiana, was charged on October 15, 2025 in a bill of information for making false statements and for theft of government funds related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

On March 27, 2020, the President of the United States signed into law the CARES Act, which provided emergency assistance, administered by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), to small business owners affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. One of the primary sources of funding for small businesses was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to the charging documents, on or about April 19, 2021, HARLAND, on behalf of a business that he owned, made false statements to an approved lender to obtain approximately $20,833 for an SBA backed PPP loan. Then, on or about April 8, 2020, HARLAND committed theft from the government when he obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan in the amount of $127,200 from the SBA based upon false declarations about the number of employees and gross revenues.

Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If found guilty, HARLAND faces up to five years in prison for the false statement count and up to ten years in prison for the money laundering count. All of the counts include up to $250,000 in fines, up to three years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

For more information on the Department of Justice's response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the United States Secret Service in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera of the Financial Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.