“The director of a Houston funeral home tried to embezzle millions of dollars from loans designed to help small businesses during the pandemic, pretending to own businesses that happen to belong to the largest Italian oil and gas corporation, federal investigators said.

Jase DePaul Gautreaux, the director of Wingate Funeral Home in the Almeda area, filed multiple fraudulent applications with bogus businesses and inflated payrolls to qualify for more funds, in a scheme to steal over $13 million from taxpayers’ money, federal prosecutors said…..”

‍