Macomb County Michigan Woman Sentenced to 27 Months for $3.3 Million COVID PPP Loan Fraud Scheme 2026

There is something almost poetic about a woman who, upon learning the FBI was closing in on her $3.3 million pandemic fraud scheme, texted her co-conspirator that she thought she was "going on a long vacation" and "leaving for a few years." Congratulations, Rita. Prophecy fulfilled. U.S. District Court Judge Jonathan J.C. Grey just handed you 27 months in federal prison and a restitution bill of $3,294,798.50. That is not a vacation. That is a consequence. And frankly, it is not nearly enough.

Rita Shaba, 40, of Macomb Township, Michigan, stood in a Detroit federal courtroom in January 2026 and received her sentence for conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The charge stems from a scheme so brazen, so thoroughly documented, and so utterly contemptuous of every legitimate small business owner who actually needed pandemic relief that it deserves to be studied in criminal justice textbooks under the chapter titled "How to Steal From Everyone and Act Surprised When You Get Caught."

The Scheme: Fake Everything, Cash the Checks

Here is how the grift worked. Shaba, along with co-defendants Samer Kammo, 45, and Christina Anasi, 35, both of Shelby Township, submitted fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program applications for multiple business entities. Not one application. Not two. Multiple. They misrepresented payroll information, falsely certified that the PPP loan funds would be used for permissible business-related purposes, and then, for good measure, fabricated an entire paper universe of supporting documentation.

We are talking fictitious payroll records. Fake health insurance documents. Forged bank statements. Fabricated tax records. Every single document that a bank would need to see in order to say "yes, this looks like a real business that really employs real people who really need this money," these three manufactured from scratch. The SBA was handing out cash like a broken ATM in 2020 and 2021, and this crew showed up with a shopping cart.

The Text Message That Says It All

Let us talk about that text message, because it might be the most honest thing anyone in this case ever communicated. When Shaba learned the government was investigating her, she did not panic. She did not call a lawyer. She did not start planning her defense. She sent a message to a co-conspirator saying she thought she was "going on a long vacation" and "leaving for a few years." That is not the reaction of someone who did not know what they were doing. That is the reaction of someone who absolutely knew what they were doing, calculated the risks, did it anyway, and then accepted the math when it caught up to them.

U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. put it more diplomatically: "Rita Shaba told countless lies in this case." Countless. Not a few. Not several. Countless. When a federal prosecutor uses the word "countless" to describe your dishonesty, you have achieved something truly special in the annals of American fraud.

The Three-Agency Investigation That Took Down a Trio From Shelby Township

This case required the combined resources of three separate federal and state agencies: the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. Three agencies. To investigate three people from the suburbs of Macomb County. Think about what that means in terms of resource allocation. Every hour an FBI agent spent building this case was an hour they were not spending on another investigation. Every dollar DHS spent tracking these funds was a dollar diverted from other enforcement priorities.

And they got their convictions. All three defendants pleaded guilty in August 2025 to conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Shaba was sentenced first, in January 2026. Kammo and Anasi are still awaiting their sentencing dates. The dominoes are falling, one by one, in the precise, methodical way that federal prosecutors prefer. Slow. Certain. Inevitable.

$200 Billion in Fraud, and We Are Celebrating $2.1 Million Recoveries

Now let us zoom out, because the Rita Shaba story is not really about Rita Shaba. It is about a system so catastrophically broken that her $3.3 million heist is a rounding error in the grand ledger of pandemic theft.

The SBA's own Inspector General estimates that more than $200 billion in COVID-19 EIDL and PPP funds were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors. That is 17% of the entire $1.2 trillion in pandemic relief the SBA distributed. Rita Shaba's $3.3 million represents 0.00165% of the estimated fraud total. You could prosecute a thousand Rita Shabas and barely scratch the surface of what was stolen.

Law enforcement has seized and recovered about $2.1 million of the $3.3 million Shaba and her crew stole. That is actually a decent recovery rate for this particular case, roughly 64%. But across all pandemic fraud, the government has clawed back nearly $30 billion out of an estimated $200 billion. That is a 15% recovery rate. The other 85%, roughly $170 billion, has evaporated into luxury cars, real estate, designer goods, and whatever else pandemic fraudsters decided to spend their stolen money on.

The DOJ obtained more than 200 settlements and judgments totaling over $230 million related to pandemic fraud in fiscal year 2025 alone. Sounds impressive until you remember that $230 million against $200 billion is like trying to empty the ocean with a coffee mug. As of the latest enforcement data, total COVID-19 fraud prosecutions have resulted in roughly 1,011 indictments and 529 convictions. Five hundred and twenty-nine convictions to address a $200 billion crime wave. That is law enforcement's version of a participation trophy.

27 Months: The Price of Stealing $3.3 Million From Taxpayers

Let us do some basic arithmetic, because the sentencing in this case is infuriating when you think about it for more than thirty seconds. Rita Shaba stole $3,294,798.50. She got 27 months. That means every single month she spends behind bars represents approximately $122,030 in stolen funds. Every day she is in prison represents roughly $4,068 in PPP money she fraudulently obtained. The average American worker earns about $60,000 per year. Shaba stole the equivalent of roughly 55 people's annual salaries and got a sentence shorter than many associate degree programs.

Yes, there is the restitution order. She owes the full $3,294,798.50 back. But restitution orders in federal fraud cases have a collection rate that would make a payday lender blush. The government can garnish wages, seize assets, and pursue her financially for life. But actually collecting $3.3 million from someone who just went to prison for stealing $3.3 million? That is an optimistic forecast, to put it gently.

The Real Victims Nobody Talks About

Every dollar that went to Rita Shaba was a dollar that did not go to a restaurant owner watching their life's work collapse. Every fake payroll record she submitted was an insult to the actual employees who were terrified they would lose their homes. Every forged bank statement was a deliberate act of contempt toward the small business owners who filled out their PPP applications honestly, waited weeks for approval, and sometimes received nothing at all because the money had already been scooped up by people like Shaba and her crew.

The PPP program distributed approximately $793 billion in loans. It was designed to be fast, deliberately so, because businesses were dying in real time. But "fast" also meant "easy to exploit," and every grifter with a pulse and an internet connection figured that out almost immediately. The SBA knew the program was leaking money. The banks processing the loans knew. Congress knew. And yet nobody pumped the brakes. They just kept shoveling cash out the door and promised they would sort it out later.

Well, it is "later" now. It is February 2026, almost six years after the pandemic started, and we are still sentencing people for stealing pandemic money. The statute of limitations for wire fraud is 10 years. That means prosecutors have until 2030 for fraud committed in 2020, and until 2031 for fraud committed in 2021. If you stole PPP money and have not been caught yet, the clock is ticking, but it has not run out. Not even close.

What Happens Next in Macomb County

Rita Shaba reports to federal prison. Her co-defendants, Samer Kammo and Christina Anasi, await their sentencing dates after pleading guilty to the same conspiracy charges. The government keeps $2.1 million of the recovered funds and starts the long, tedious process of trying to collect the remaining $1.2 million.

And somewhere in America, right now, someone who stole PPP money is reading about Rita Shaba and breathing a sigh of relief because they have not been caught yet. The math says most of them never will be. Five hundred and twenty-nine convictions against an estimated $200 billion in fraud is not justice. It is theater. Expensive, slow, deeply unsatisfying theater.

Shaba knew exactly what she was doing. She told us so herself, in that text message. "Going on a long vacation." She was right about one thing: federal prison is going to feel very, very long. But 27 months for $3.3 million? In the grand economy of pandemic fraud, that is barely a speed bump.

And the $170 billion that is still missing? Nobody is going on vacation for that. Nobody ever does.