PPP Loan Fraud In Joliet Leads To 5 Felonies: JPD

JOLIET, IL — A 25-year-old Joliet resident from the 900 block of West Park Avenue is now in the Will County Jail facing a $1 million bail following his arrest Wednesday on five felony charges stemming from allegations of Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud.

Will County prosecutors charged Jacques Daniel Harris with two counts of theft by deception, one count of loan fraud, one count of state benefits fraud and one count of forgery.

On May 29, 2021, Harris delivered an application for a PPP loan in the amount of $17,082 "in that it represented that the defendant's business, a sole proprietor dog breeder, had gross revenues of $82,000 for the year 2019 when the defendant knew that such representation was false," the criminal complaint stated.

On the state benefits' fraud, Harris "knowingly misrepresented his employment status to obtain unemployment benefits in excess of $300 from the Illinois Department of Employment Security," court records show.

Harris "represented that he was unemployed, which the defendant knew to be false, and that subsequent to said false representation, he received state unemployment benefits in the amount of $702 on June 15, 201," his complaint outlined.

Will County Judge Art Smigielski set Harris' bail at $1 million.