🚨 The résumé was impressive. The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. The title of ambassador. A bank with nearly $350 million in assets. Federal prosecutors say it was all a lie.
Shannon Steel, a Michigan woman honored during the Biden-Harris administration, has been charged with wire fraud in a federal case. Prosecutors allege she falsely claimed to be the ambassador of the Central African Republic to the United States — and the owner of a bank holding nearly $350 million in assets.
Investigators say she used a fraudulent bank letter to convince one victim to wire her $200,000. Federal authorities say records have identified at least eight alleged victims and approximately $1.5 million in losses connected to the scheme.
And now the program that handed her its lifetime achievement honor is under the microscope too — the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award program has reportedly been suspended amid questions about fraud and oversight. An award meant to honor a lifetime of service, given to someone now accused of running a million-dollar con.