Shama’s Specialties Owner Sentenced to 33 Months for Fraud
Mashama Ferdinand, 38, was sentenced Friday to 33 months in prison for wire fraud, along with $383,397 in restitution. She was remanded Monday to the custody of U.S. Marshals and, upon the completion of her sentence, will also serve four years of supervised release.
2022-02-08 12:51:33 - VI News Staff
According to court documents, Ferdinand filed a Paycheck Protection Program loan application in July of 2022 on behalf of her company, Shama’s Specialties. The application claimed that Ferdinand had 15 employees and earned a quarterly payroll of $460,079. In a news release Monday, U.S. Gretchen Shappert said that Ferdinand electronically submitted her loan application to Bluevine, Inc. and, hours later, it was approved in the amount of $383,397.
“Bluevine’s computer records revealed that Shama’s Specialties application package was processed by unnamed co-conspirators in Apopka, Florida. Thereafter, on Aug. 3, 2020, Bluevine deposited the loan proceeds in the amount of $383,397 in Shama’s Specialties’ First Bank Virgin Islands’ checking account,” according to the release.
Three separate payments in the amount of $9,999 were wired two days later to three alleged co-conspirators for their help in processing the loan application, Shappert added. Ferdinand also used $50,000 of the loan proceeds to pay a business partner in return for his investment in Shama’s Specialties. A month later, Ferdinand spent approximately $12,000 on dental veneers and another $3,000 to pay off an American Express business card, the release said.