Florida woman used a $15,000 PPP relief loan to hire a hitman, according to police

While the Paycheck Protection Program is meant to aid businesses with payroll during the pandemic, some have used it to buy extravagant items. Though a beauty salon owner allegedly used her PPP loan to hire a hitman in 2021, Miami Herald reports.

Jasmine Martinez claimed the $15,000 loan was to help keep her single-employee beauty salon going. Days after receiving the loan in spring 2021, she took out $10,000 days before the murder of a U.S. Transportation Security Administration officer.

Javon Carter, an ex-con, is the accused hitman in the murder of TSA officer Le’Shonte Jones. According to police, the woman was walking into South Miami-Dade apartment when she was shot multiple times.

Detectives believe Martinez gave Carter an estimated $10,000 to murder Jones. Martinez reportedly has had multiple run-ins with Jones over the years.

It was just hours after the murder Carter got paid and videotaped himself counting a large amount of money. “Just another day at the office,” he said in the video.

Martinez, Carter, and Romiel Robinson were recently arrested in connection to the murder.

Though, Martinez and Robinson’s attorneys maintain they weren’t involved in the plot to kill. According to Fallon Zirpoli, Martinez’s defense attorney, “Jasmin has always denied any involvement in this since the first time law enforcement approached her last summer.”

Read more at Miami Herald.

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