Will County woman accused of buying Italian luxury car with PPP money

A Will County woman who once worked as a state revenue auditor is accused of buying an Italian luxury vehicle with fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan funds to launder money.

Allegations were leveled against Shepale Hicks, 44, of Monee in a July 15 indictment returned by a Cook County grand jury. Hicks faces charges of money laundering, wire fraud, loan fraud, financial institution fraud and other offenses.

The charges in the indictment were announced Thursday by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. His office is prosecuting the case.

Hicks worked as a revenue auditor for the Illinois Department of Revenue, according to state salary records. A spokesperson for the department said she no longer works there.

The Cook County indictment alleged Hicks “purchased an Alfa Romeo vehicle with fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan funds.” Alfa Romeo is an automobile manufacturer based in Italy that produces Italian sports cars and SUVs.

The indictment alleged Hicks bought the vehicle to commit the offense of money laundering.

The Paycheck Protection Program was implemented to help struggling businesses across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the program has been beset by numerous cases of fraud. The U.S. Small Business Administration is estimated to have disbursed about $64 billion in potentially fraudulent PPP loans, according to a 2023 report from the SBA’s inspector general’s office.

Raoul’s office alleged Hicks fraudulently obtained $41,665 in PPP loans for two businesses that did not exist.

The indictment alleged the names of those two businesses as Shepale Hicks and Pretty Fit. Neither business was listed with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, which keeps records of businesses in the state.

ProPublica’s database on PPP loans listed those businesses as having a location in South Holland, a suburb in Cook County. The businesses were in the industry of “all other personal services,” according to the nonprofit organization’s database.

Hicks also faces charges of filing fraudulent income tax returns with the department she worked for.

The indictment alleged Hicks filed tax returns with the Illinois Department of Revenue that failed to report net profits of $33,000, $38,000, $93,783 and $98,899.

Hicks also was charged with engaging in the offense of unlawful structuring of a currency transaction by making five separate wire transfers, each less than $10,000, from her Navy Federal Credit Union account to her U.S. Bank account.

Structuring involves making multiple deposits to avoid bank’s federal reporting requirements.