Murrieta Contractor Vindicated As DOJ Drops PPP Case: Report

MURRIETA, CA — The pandemic-era federal case against a Southwest Riverside County asphalt contractor was dropped last week when the Department of Justice admitted they followed a "legally erroneous theory," according to recent news reports.

Though Oumar Sissoko, 61, of Murrieta, has won the battle to clear his name, the DOJ has yet to release a formal statement rescinding its former claims.

Sissoko was convicted of four counts of wire fraud for improperly using PPP funds received during a pandemic in April 2022. He was sentenced in November of that same year. He spent only a handful of days in jail before being released on bail.

Last week, the DOJ admitted in a court filing that its prosecutors' legal theories were "erroneously founded." Thus far, the information officers for the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office have not commented on questions regarding their adherence to that working theory.

"They destroyed my life; they destroyed my business," Sissoko, 61, now of Murrieta, told the PE in a recent interview.

During the pandemic, Sissoko, then owner of The Road Doctor Asphalt Repair, LLC, applied for a $7.25 million Paycheck Protection Program from the federal government. His loan was approved, and he used $370,000 to purchase a Mercedes-Benz for business use and computer and pay salaries to himself and his wife, who then worked for his company, he told the PE.

Sissoko told the PE that the government seized the $7.25 million except the $370,000, which he "doesn’t need to repay because it was spent on permissible uses."

He told the PE that the funds were earmarked for hiring 450 employees and expanding his business to Senegal, in Africa. Loans, such as the one he applied for, were designed for small businesses to spend on payroll, mortgages, rent, and utilities, with repayment of the loan if spent on other items.

Patch has contacted the DOJ and Sissoko and will include those responses when they are received.

Read the full report on the Press Enterprise.