EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — An El Paso woman admits she defrauded over $2 million from COVID relief programs set to help small businesses through the pandemic.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, on Wednesday, 47-year-old Araceli Benitez pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges related to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud, and to one count of wire fraud and one count of false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims to the IRS.

Benitez has not been sentenced, but the DOJ said she faces up to 30 years in prison for the wire fraud and up to five years for the false claim. A federal district court judge will ultimately determine her sentence.

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According to court documents, this is what Benitez did:

She owned and operated Garaas Insurance Tax Services (GITS) and Ashley Home Care Services (AHH) out of a storefront in El Paso.

Through those businesses, Benitez helped various other businesses obtain PPP loans from the federal government, charging clients a percentage of the loan they would receive.

However, in at least one instance, Benitez received income tax information from a client for the purpose of a PPP loan application, then prepared and filed a false Form 1040 that reflected different figures from the client’s true Form 1040. The Form 1040 filed by Benitez for the PPP loan application also did not contain her client’s signature. Additionally, the client’s signature on the loan application was forged and the application had not been reviewed by the client before Benitez submitted it. For her work in preparing the PPP loan application, Benitez charged the client $6,000 and deposited the funds into the GITS bank account.

Additionally, Benitez provided false information to the IRS via a Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

On July 12, 2022, Benitez filed the form, claiming to have paid several employees higher wages than she had actually paid out. As a result of the false information, Benitez received a tax refund of $52,267.92.

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Officials who prosecuted and investigated the case released the following statements.

“The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help American small businesses survive the economic crisis that was the COVID era,” said U.S. Attorney Simmons. “Araceli Benitez saw that as an opportunity to enrich herself through an illegal fraud scheme. Fraud against federal programs is a selfish crime against every taxpaying American. Like many other convicted fraudsters who have faced the consequences, Benitez must be held accountable.”

“The Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans were a resource to assist the American people and their small businesses in a time of uncertainty, instead Ms. Benitez used deceptive practices to exploit a government program for her own personal gain” said Coult W. Markovsky, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI El Paso Field Office. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to identify and investigate anyone who tries to defraud federal government programs in this way.”

“Benitez filed fraudulent tax returns using a refundable tax credit called the employee retention credit. When criminals use a refundable tax credit on their tax returns, the fraud can turn into a tax refund, which is stealing from every tax payer,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus Jr., of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Texas Field Office. “IRS-CI initiated more than 560 investigations, involving more than $5.61 billion of potentially fraudulent employee retention credits. We are returning the money back to the Treasury where it can help take care of the needs of all taxpayers.”

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