East Granby woman pleads guilty to $1.1M pandemic relief fraud
Shelton man pleads guilty to fraudulently filing for COVID-19 relief funds
Karen Gaston, 44, controlled entities including LNK, Elegant Clinical, Ruby Red LLC and Diamond Shine LLC. LNK and Diamond Shine LLC were operational, but shared resources and employees. Ruby Red LLC had only one client and Gaston was its sole employee and Elegant Clinical was no longer operational.
Beginning in April 2020, Gaston allegedly submitted loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs), two pandemic-era resources, that falsely represented the status of the operations, resources and employees of these entities.
She also filed loan applications at separate financial institutions in order to disguise the true nature of her criminal activity.
She received over $1.1 million in PPP and EIDL loan funds through this scheme, spending the money on personal expenditures, including travel, food, luxury home goods, expensive jewelry, cars and paying off her mortgage.
She's facing a maximum 30 years in prison and has agreed to pay full restitution.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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