Simeon Bakare
Introduction
Simeon Bakare is a 56-year-old former U.S. Agency for International Development employee from Waldorf, Maryland, who was sentenced on 9 November 2026 to six months in federal prison for a COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud scheme that netted more than $176,000 . U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang also ordered Bakare to forfeit $176,000 and pay $176,000 in restitution, and imposed three years of supervised release including two months of home detention . He had pleaded guilty on 3 June 2026 to wire fraud in connection with the scheme .
Background Information
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted in March 2020, created emergency relief programs including the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program administered through the Small Business Administration . Beginning in April 2020 and continuing until November 2021, Bakare engaged in a scheme to defraud the SBA, admitting he submitted or caused the submission of multiple fraudulent PPP and EIDL applications, including five false loan applications along with loan-forgiveness requests supported by fraudulent IRS Schedule C forms and false attestations about the existence of sole proprietorships . The scheme caused PPP and EIDL benefits to be deposited into bank accounts he controlled .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Sentenced for wire fraud in a CARES Act relief scheme.
The conduct that sent Bakare to federal prison was his use of fabricated documents — phony tax schedules and false sole-proprietor attestations — to pull more than $176,000 in pandemic relief into accounts under his control while working for the federal government’s foreign aid agency . U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland announced the sentence alongside Acting Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Santos of the USAID Office of Inspector General, whose investigators retained jurisdiction over criminal activity affecting U.S. foreign assistance programs . The prosecution was described as part of the federal task force effort to eliminate fraud in pandemic and benefit programs .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The sentence — prison, supervised release with home detention, full forfeiture of the fraud proceeds, and dollar-for-dollar restitution — closes a case prosecuted in Greenbelt federal court . The USAID OIG’s continued role underscored that misconduct inside the agency follows employees after they leave it . No public statement from Bakare or his counsel appears in the coverage of the sentencing .
Current Status
Bakare was sentenced on 9 November 2026 to six months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, including two months of home detention; the forfeiture and restitution judgments of $176,000 each were entered at sentencing . The wire-fraud conviction follows his June 2026 guilty plea .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The conviction converts a career inside the U.S. foreign assistance bureaucracy into a federal criminal record, six months of custody, and an obligation to hand back every dollar the scheme obtained . At 56, his release will come under supervised release conditions that include home detention, and the forfeiture judgment strips the financial benefit he kept from the scheme .
Sources
- “Former USAID Employee Sentenced for CARES Act Fraud” — U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland, via Public (pubt.io mirror): source