In a significant legal development, Mark Ethan Jermain, a 41-year-old man from the Slovak Republic, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to obtaining nearly three-quarters of a million dollars through pandemic relief fraud. The fraud occurred between April 26, 2020, and July 16, 2021.
Jermain admitted to three counts of wire fraud, involving deceitful submissions of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications under the name Arsene Millogo, which was his legal name at the time. He utilized this alias to falsely acquire $730,550 intended to support struggling U.S. businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The illicit activities began with an $80,000 loan application for Crazyeats LLC, a Missouri-based company Jermain established in 2017. He inflated the company’s average monthly payroll figures to qualify for the loan, which he then transferred to a bank in Slovakia.
Subsequent fraudulent applications were made for another company, Unimentors LLC, leading to two more loans totaling $650,550, all of which were similarly transferred internationally. Despite Jermain’s claims of using these funds for payroll, investigations revealed they were used for personal gain and other unauthorized expenditures.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation handled the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll leading the prosecution. Jermain, who had returned to the U.S. from Slovakia in August 2023, was arrested by FBI agents shortly thereafter.
Jermain faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for January 8.
