U.S. Attorney Jaime E. Esparza | U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney Jaime E. Esparza | U.S. Department of Justice
A former FBI employee, Christopher James Phillips, has been sentenced in San Antonio to three months of home confinement and five years of probation. This sentence comes after Phillips pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud related to the misuse of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Court documents reveal that Phillips, 41, from Schertz, Texas, established Phillips Global Realty LLC on December 20, 2019. He applied for PPP funds on May 29, 2020, using his FBI credentials. In his application, he claimed to employ two people with an average monthly payroll of $15,000 and submitted a fraudulent IRS Form 941 indicating a $50,000 payroll for the fourth quarter of 2019. The IRS confirmed that no such form was filed by Phillips between 2019 and 2022.
Phillips assured that the PPP funds would be used solely for authorized expenses like payroll and utilities. However, after receiving $37,500 in PPP funds on June 2, 2020, he transferred $25,000 to a personal trading account six days later and lost it through trading activities. On June 9 and June 16 of the same year, he made payments towards his personal auto loan and home mortgage totaling approximately $13,617.
He was indicted on January 3, 2024 for wire fraud and engaging in monetary transactions over $10,000 with criminally derived proceeds. Following his arrest on January 5th that year and subsequent release on bond the same day, Phillips pleaded guilty on September 18th. Alongside his sentencing terms of home confinement and probationary period under supervision by the United States Probation Department; he must also pay restitution amounting to $39,771.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza stated: “The United States government will aggressively prosecute criminals even if those individuals work within our own ranks.” He emphasized this sentencing serves as a warning against misuse of position among government personnel.
The case was investigated by the FBI while Assistant U.S Attorney Justin Simmons led prosecution efforts.