孟菲斯女子骗走退伍军人事务部290多万美元助学金，被判8年监禁
2026年2月2日，位于田纳西州谢尔比县孟菲斯市的联邦法院判处孟菲斯女子 Quannah Fields Harris（53岁）8年联邦监禁，罪名是骗取美国退伍军人事务部（VA）290多万美元。美国联邦检察官办公室田纳西州西区宣布了这项判决。
联邦地区法官 John T. Fowlkes, Jr. 判处 Harris 96个月监禁，并责令她向退伍军人事务部支付 2,905,853.09 美元赔偿，罪名是共谋欺骗美国与电汇欺诈。Harris 已于2025年10月经联邦陪审团审判定罪。
据审判与量刑阶段出示的事实，Harris 于2014年至2019年在孟菲斯南三街2195号经营 Last Minute Cuts 理发与美容学校。她把数十名退伍军人登记为该校学生向退伍军人事务部收费，这些人却几乎不上课、没有接受任何教学、没有参加考试，也从未取得州理发或美容执照，这所学校实际上是个骗局。许多退伍军人报名之后再也没有踏进学校，Harris 却在此后多年里继续以他们上课为名收费。涉案的《退伍军人权利法案》（GI Bill）是退伍军人事务部管理的联邦项目，旨在帮助退役军人学习职业技能。
田纳西州西区联邦检察官 D. Michael Dunavant 说，美国武装部队的退伍军人值得尊荣与尊重，该办公室会始终保护他们，侵害退伍军人事务部就是伤害退伍军人、理应受到重罚。退伍军人事务部监察长办公室中大西洋外勤办公室特别探员主管 Nate Landkammer 说，这一判决表明该办公室与执法伙伴会积极追查欺骗退伍军人事务部的人。国税局刑事调查部门夏洛特外勤办公室特别探员主管 Donald Eakins 说，被告设局骗政府、被抓获，如今被追究责任。
此案由退伍军人事务部监察长办公室与国税局刑事调查部门调查，退伍军人福利管理局教育服务处协助，联邦助理检察官 Tony Arvin 负责起诉。联邦刑罚没有假释。
Memphis Woman Sentenced to 8 Years for Defrauding the VA of Over $2.9 Million in GI Bill Funds
On February 2, 2026, a federal court in Memphis, in Shelby County, Tennessee, sentenced Memphis resident Quannah Fields Harris, 53, to eight years in federal prison for defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of over $2.9 million. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee announced the sentence.
U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes, Jr. sentenced Harris to 96 months in prison and ordered her to pay $2,905,853.09 in restitution to the VA for conspiring to defraud the United States and committing wire fraud. Harris was convicted by a federal jury in October 2025.
According to the facts presented at trial and sentencing, Harris owned the Last Minute Cuts School of Barbering and Cosmetology at 2195 South Third Street in Memphis from 2014 to 2019. She billed the VA for dozens of veterans she enrolled as students who attended few classes, if any, received no instruction, took no tests or exams, and never obtained a state barbering or cosmetology license; the school was, in reality, a sham. Many of the veterans never set foot in the school again after the day she enrolled them, yet Harris billed the VA for years thereafter for their purported attendance. The GI Bill is a federal program administered by the VA to help veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces learn vocational skills.
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces deserve honor and respect and that his office will always protect them, adding that victimizing the VA harms veterans and deserves significant punishment. Nate Landkammer, Special Agent in Charge of the VA Office of Inspector General's Mid-Atlantic Field Office, said the sentence demonstrates that the VA OIG and its law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue those who defraud the VA. Donald 'Trey' Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation's Charlotte Field Office, said the defendant schemed to defraud the government, got caught, and is now being held accountable.
The case was investigated by the VA Office of Inspector General and IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Veterans Benefits Administration's Education Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Arvin prosecuted the case. There is no parole in the federal system.
来源：美国联邦检察官办公室田纳西州西区
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于美国华盛顿的美国退伍军人事务部总部大楼正面（资料照片）。G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The front of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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