The federal pandemic relief fraud trial of Zipora Hudson, Montreal Hudson and Deandre Jones has been continued to allow more time for the defense to prepare, court documents show.
The case is now scheduled for jury trial beginning at 9:40 a.m. on July 24 in Courtroom 3 East on the third floor of the U.S. Federal Building in Oxford. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills will preside.
The trial had been set to start April 8, but Mills’ March 25 order granted a continuance requested by the defense.
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"Counsel states additional time is needed in order to review the extensive discovery and properly prepare for his defense prior to the trial in this matter," Mills' order explained.
Attorneys for the government did not oppose the delay in the case.
Zipora Hudson, 47, the CEO and founder of Zippy Bee LLC, doing business as Zippy Bee’s Tax Service in Charleston, faces three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, all felony charges.
Hudson’s son, Montreal, 30, is charged with two counts of wire fraud and one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Jones, 31, is charged with one count each of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment for the conspiracy and wire fraud charges and 20 years for the money laundering violations.
Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty on all charges.
A Feb. 13 news release from the U.S. Department of Justice had identified the trio as DeSoto County residents of Olive Branch, but all have Tallahatchie County ties.
They were named in a Jan. 25 indictment returned by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi
The defendants allegedly devised a scheme to defraud financial institutions in order to obtain funds authorized under the federal coronavirus relief bill’s Paycheck Protection Plan, which provided forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses.
The indictment cited the cases of 13 unnamed borrowers, most of them identified as customers of Zippy Bee’s services, who allegedly were told by defendants that they qualified for a PPP loan and were offered the defendants’ assistance in applying for the loan.
The defendants allegedly “falsified and fabricated supporting documentation required for PPP loan applications,” including, the indictment noted, “lying about ... the existence and operation of businesses and business income.”
The indictment listed nearly two-dozen “fraudulently obtained” loan payments, totaling $491,893. A number of the 13 borrowers allegedly had PPP loan applications submitted to two different lending institutions and received PPP loans from both.
For their services, the indictment said the borrowers paid a portion of the PPP funds received to the defendants, those fees ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 per loan.
See original Feb. 22, 2024, story
