Lorain mother and sons accused of committing $5 million in COVID-19 pandemic and tax fraud

A Lorain County woman and her two adult sons have been charged with stealing or trying to steal more than $5 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic stimulus and unemployment funds and tax refunds over the span of more than five years. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio said a federal grand jury charged Junera Holt Sr., 55, and her sons, Divante Holt, 31, and Richard Henry, 35, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud; wire fraud; aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns; and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud. Junera Holt also was charged with filing a false tax return, aggravated identity theft and bank fraud. Henry also was charged with bank fraud and engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. Junera Holt was arraigned July 7 in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. Divante Holt — who is currently in prison but appealing an 11-to-16 1/2 year sentence for drug trafficking handed down by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher in February — was scheduled to be arraigned at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in federal court. Divante Holt is serving his time at Madison Correctional Institution, according to federal court and state prison records. Henry was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending further hearings in federal court, according to court records. The U.S. Attorney's Office alleged the defendants submitted fraudulent applications and claims using identity theft, shell companies "and numerous misstatements" to obtain $5 million in taxpayer money including both tax refunds and COVID-19 pandemic stimulus funds. Some of the shell companies included R & J's Southern Style Cooking, Neighborhood Convenient Store, Uhuru Logistics, Eugenes, R & J's Neighborhood Stop N Shop and R and J's Used Car Sales. The defendants also allegedly filed multiple false claims with the Internal Revenue Service between 2019 and 2024 using their own names, identities they stole from other people and shell companies, claiming more than $1.53 million. Divante Holt and Henry allegedly recruited clients and Junera Holt would file tax returns as a "ghost preparer" so that it looked like the taxpayer did their own taxes. Junera Holt then "grossly overrepresented the extent of federal tax withholdings," claiming the taxpayers had earned income from the shell companies she and the other defendants controlled. False W-2 forms issued by the shell companies backed up the scheme, according to federal prosecutors. Junera Holt also allegedly claimed pandemic Employee Retention Credits, or ERCs, to which she wasn't entitled. The defendants also allegedly conspired to get more than $3.27 million in COVID-19 pandemic stimulus funds, primarily unemployment insurance benefits for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. In 2021 the defendants also allegedly submitted fraudulent loan applications trying to get $337,645 in U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loans, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Some of the fraudulently-obtained money was used to make payments on Junera Holt's Chevrolet Camaro, to buy shoes and for hotel rooms in various states, according to federal court records. The IRS and U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General investigated the case.Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com