Feds in Minnesota charge 2 women with stealing millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief money

A Minnesota woman and a second woman have been charged by federal authorities with stealing millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief money from government agencies.

Takara Hughes, 35, of Maplewood and Tequisha Solomon, 39, of Las Vegas were charged last week with several counts of wire fraud for allegedly submitting phony claims and applications for unemployment benefits to state agencies in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Those agencies included the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and California Employment Development Department.

The women are scheduled to make their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on July 15. Messages were left with their attorneys Tuesday seeking responses to the charges.

According to prosecutors:

For example, while Solomon and Hughes lived in Nevada or Minnesota, they falsely claimed they resided in Southern California, where they worked as hairstylists, and received at least $37,000 and $46,000, respectively, in state unemployment benefits .

Solomon, who has lived in South St. Paul and Woodbury, and Hughes also fraudulently applied for economic injury disaster and federal Paycheck Protection Program small-business loans by falsely claiming they owned cleaning service businesses.

They also submitted fraudulent claims on behalf of other people and charged them a fee to do so.

Solomon reportedly cost the federal government and several state agencies at least $4.1 million for alleged false claims. Hughes reportedly was paid at least $1.2 million.