Crime & Law
Chicago Police Sergeant Charged in Federal Court With PPP Loan Fraud
The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)
A Chicago police sergeant is accused of obtaining more than $40,000 in COVID-19 relief loans for a fake bakery she claimed to own.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Tuesday announced Brandi Wright, 44, now faces a charge of wire fraud after she allegedly engaged in Paycheck Protection Program fraud in 2021.
Wright, whose online social media profile shows she has been with the CPD for two decades, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Her arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
A CPD spokesperson on Tuesday referred questions about Wright’s arrest to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, adding only that Wright “is currently assigned to unit 620.”
According to criminal information filed Monday, Wright in 2021 filed a pair of false loan applications in which she claimed to own a retail bakery. She allegedly said that business had earned $99,989 in gross income the previous year and that the purpose of the loan was to cover payroll costs.
Wright allegedly obtained $41,662 in PPP funds through those loan applications.
But prosecutors say that bakery never existed and that Wright intended to use the loans to cover her own personal expenses, “including to pay personal credit card debt, purchase personal goods and services and make cash withdrawals, all for her personal use and benefit.”
