A former Oklahoma resident with business interests in Florida has been sentenced after pleading guilty to bank fraud related to the CARES Act. Shawn Ray Murnan, 57, from Windemere, Florida, received a sentence of 33 months imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. He is also required to pay $1,641,796.47 in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), as announced by U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.
U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill presided over the case and delivered the sentence. “In 2020, the CARES Act funding was established to provide emergency financial assistance to help businesses that were disrupted,” stated U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Investigators and prosecutors are committed to finding those like Murnan who steal government funding and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law.”
Murnan admitted to submitting false applications for CARES Act funds between April 2020 and October 2021. As an owner of multiple businesses in Oklahoma, Florida, and other states, he filed 14 applications on behalf of his enterprises, including Blujett, LLC based in Broken Arrow. These applications falsely claimed employee numbers and payroll expenses, resulting in him receiving $1,641,796.47 through seven Paycheck Protection Program loans and two Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Following today’s sentencing, Murnan was taken into custody and will remain there until his transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The investigation involved several agencies: The Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; The Office of Inspector General for the Small Business Administration; and The U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Whipple led the prosecution.
The Fraud Section oversees prosecutions related to fraudulent schemes exploiting the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Since the CARES Act’s introduction, it has prosecuted over 150 defendants across more than 95 cases and seized over $75 million from fraudulently obtained PPP funds along with real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds.
Further details are available at Justice.gov/OPA/pr/justice-department-takes-action-against-covid-19-fraud.
