MONROVIA – Liberia Airport Authority (LAA’s) former managing director, Ellen Corkrum’s plush home in the United States of America will be seized and auctioned, by the United States government, to represent refund of moneys she stole from the Government of the United States of America, Women Voices newspaper has gathered.
Corkrum recently pleaded guilty to the charge of bank fraud, admitting that she defrauded the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of more than US$6 million, in a case filed against her on 11 January 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division.
Court documents Women Voices newspaper is privy to, indicate that upon conviction of count one of the offense she’s being held for, which is bank fraud, Corkrum, shall forfeit to the United States of America, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 982(a)(2)(A), any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained directly or indirectly, as a result of such violation.
Corkrum’s property to be forfeited includes, but is not limited to MONEY JUDGMENT: a sum of money in United States currency, representing the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the offense for which she is convicted.
Cokrum bought her home for over half of a million United States dollars, six years after she embarked upon a scam to defraud the U.S. government. Court documents in the possession of Women Voices newspaper reveal that she risks forfeiture of any other property owned by her, including her luxurious home in 655 Danas Ridge Dr, Roswell, Georgia Atlanta 30075, as long as the accumulated sum of her confiscated properties don’t add up to the actual amount she stole.
Already, Federal agents in the USA have seized approximately $2.1 million of the money Corkrum obtained fraudulently.
From on or about April 27, 2020 through on or about June 17, 2020, in the Northern District of Georgia and elsewhere, according to court documents, Corkrum, under the name Hunter Vanpelt, also known as Hunter Lauren Vanpelt or Ellen Corkrum or Ellen Yabba Kwame Corkrum, did knowingly execute and attempt to execute a scheme and artifice to defraud financial institutions, the deposits of which were then insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and to obtain, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, and other property owned by and under the custody and control of those financial institutions, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.
In or about July 2016, Ellen Corkrum aka Ellen Yabba Kwame Corkrum, changed her name to Hunter Lauren Vanpelt aka Hunter Vanpelt, using both names, Vanpelt and Corkrum, after changing her name to Vanpelt, and submitted PPP loan application under both names.
From on or about April 27, 2020, Corkrum submitted false and fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of six entities owned or controlled by her. The institutions are: Georgia Nephrology Physician Associated, United Healthcare Group & amp; Co., Nephrology Network Group LLC, First Corporate International, Corkrum Consolidated Inc., and Kiwi InternationalInc; all collectively known as the “VANPELT Entities”.
She submitted and caused to be submitted the six false and fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of the VANPELT Entities to three financial institutions and a company, with Corkrum signing two of these PPP loan applications using the HUNTER VANPELT name, signed one of the PPP loan applications using the HUNTER LAUREN VANPELT name, and signed three of the PPP loan applications using the ELLEN CORKRUM name.
In each of the PPP loan applications for the VANPELT Entities, she falsely certified that all information therein and in the supporting documents was true and accurate.
From on or about April 27, 2020, Corkrum submitted false and fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of six entities owned or controlled by her. The institutions are: Georgia Nephrology Physician Associated, United Healthcare Group & amp; Co., Nephrology Network Group LLC, First Corporate International, Corkrum Consolidated Inc., and Kiwi InternationalInc; all collectively known as the “VANPELT Entities”.
She submitted and caused to be submitted the six false and fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of the VANPELT Entities to more three financial institutions and a company, with Corkrum signing two of these PPP loan applications using the HUNTER VANPELT name, signed one of the PPP loan applications using the
HUNTER LAUREN VANPELT name, and signed three of the PPP loan
applications using the ELLEN CORKRUM name.
In each of the PPP loan applications for the VANPELT Entities, she falsely certified that all information therein and in the supporting documents was true and accurate.
In each of the PPP loan applications for the VANPELT Entities. Corkrum falsely represented the average monthly payroll and the number of employees working for the VANPELT Entities, while in support of each of the PPP loan applications for the VANPELT Entities, she submitted false Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, whereas, insupport of the PPP loan applications for United Healthcare Group& amp; Co., Nephrology Network Group LLC, First Corporate International, and Corkrum Consolidated Inc., the former LAA’s managing director submitted false bank statements that purported to be from accounts associated with each of these entities.
Also, insupport of the PPP loan application for Kiwi International Inc., VANPELT submitted false payroll reports, and based on the false and fraudulent PPP loan applications and supporting documents submitted or caused to be submitted by Corkrum, four financial institutions and a company approved five PPP loan applications and disbursed $6,017,066.50 in PPP loan proceeds to accounts controlled by Corkrum.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act w a s a federal law enacted in or about March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
One source of relief that the CARES Act provided was the authorization of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small business for payroll, mortgage interest, rent/lease, and utilities, through a program referred to as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), but court documents show that Corkrum did not use the PPP loan proceeds for payroll or for other authorized PPP business expenses.
The Paycheck Protection Program or PPP helps businesses keep their workforces employed during the COVID-19 crisis,” according to Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine, who says “When these funds are diverted by fraud, such as in this case, workers and the businesses that employ them unfortunately suffer.”
A source in the U.S., who is following the Corkrum’s court case, has informed Women Voices newspaper that although she is expected to be sentenced for 30 years on 4 January of next year, because her crime is not of violent nature, her sentence might be reduced to 65 percent, with the high probability of probation.
