This story has been updated.
A Bloomington man has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Hall ran for Congress in the 2016 Republican primary for Indiana’s ninth district and led the Monroe County Tea Party movement.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana, 73-year-old Robert K. Hall “conspired with others to defraud multiple businesses through business email compromise schemes, and to defraud multiple states and the Small Business Administration by taking advantage of COVID-19 loan and unemployment programs” from September 2019 to December 2020. Hall laundered the stolen money through his bank accounts, according to court documents.
In total, he attempted to steal $668,746.14, but some of the transactions were blocked or reversed, and he only successfully received $399,868.36.
In September 2019, prosecutors allege that Hall, under the guise of an electric company, used a fraudulent email to steal $113,550 from a business, and directed them to make future payments to Hall’s personal account.
In July 2020, following the passage of the CARES Act, prosecutors say a fraudulent application was submitted to the Small Business Administration for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan without the knowledge or consent of the beneficiaries. Instead, the loans were deposited into an account controlled by Hall. Hall and his co-conspirators also fraudulently applied for three Economic Injury Disaster Loans, with the benefits going into Hall’s personal accounts.
READ MORE: Small Business Administration Releases Data On Paycheck Protection Program Loans
Along with those events, between May 2020 and December 2020, applications for unemployment benefits were filed in six different states using stolen identities from more than a dozen individuals. The unemployment benefits were also deposited into accounts controlled by Hall.
Even though Hall retained 20 percent of the stolen funds, he didn’t work alone.
“Hall and his co-conspirators took advantage of government programs intended to assist small businesses and individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jeffrey R. Adams, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Indianapolis Field Office. “The Secret Service remains committed to aggressively pursuing fraudsters who target the financial infrastructure of the United States."
The judge in the case also ordered that Hall be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison.
UPDATE: Story has been updated to reflect that Hall ran for Congress in the 2016 Republican primary for Indiana’s ninth district and led the Monroe County Tea Party movement.
