Three Defendants Charged In $1.6 Million Covid-19 Fraud Scheme
Alicia Ayers, Andrea Ayers, and Traci Proctor arrested for submitting more than 300 applications for U.S. Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans totalling $1.6 Million.
On March 24, 2021 ALICIA AYERS, ANDREA AYERS, and TRACI PROCTOR were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, false statements, and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”), resulting in a loss to the SBA of more than $1.6 million. All three defendants were arrested this morning.
Andrea Ayers is a civilian employe of the Mt. Vernon Police Department. Alicia Ayers is a travel agent and financial advisor. Both members of the Ayers family were arrested in Mt. Vernon. Traci Proctor was arrested in Georgia.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants schemed to defraud the SBA by submitting disaster loan and grant applications for non-existent businesses. In so doing, they stole funds intended for the many small businesses that are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank the FBI and SBA-OIG for their partnership in investigating the scheme alleged.”
In June and July 2020, ALICIA AYERS, ANDREA AYERS, and TRACI PROCTOR used the identities of approximately 300 other individuals (the “Applicants”) to submit approximately 315 online applications to the SBA, seeking over $3 million of funds through the SBA’s EIDL Program. (the “EIDL Applications”). In connection with the EIDL Applications, ALICIA AYERS, ANDREA AYERS, and PROCTOR falsely represented to the SBA, among other things, that the Applicants were the owners of businesses with ten or more employees. In fact, however, the applications falsely reported the businesses’ numbers of employees, and the vast majority of the purported businesses appear not to have existed at all. Based on the fraudulent EIDL Applications, the SBA made advance payments of approximately $1,690,000 to the Applicants, who often then kicked back a portion of the advance payments to ALICIA AYERS, ANDREA AYERS, and TRACI PROCTOR.
ALICIA AYERS, 34, and ANDREA AYERS, 54, of Mount Vernon, New York, and TRACI PROCTOR, 47, of Clarkston, Georgia, are charged with (1) conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, (2) wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison, (3) false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and (4) aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “While small businesses throughout the country were clamoring for the economic support they so desperately needed after the first quarter of the pandemic, those charged today allegedly saw the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program as nothing more than an opportunity to turn a quick profit. As alleged, Ayers, Ayers, and Proctor filed more than 300 online applications on behalf of others that included false information to support their claims. This resulted in nearly $1.7 million worth of payments from the SBA, a portion of which the defendants received in the form of kickbacks. No matter how creative the scheme is, rest assured those who siphon money from taxpayer funded programs will be aggressively pursued. This investigation remains ongoing, and we ask anyone with information to call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI or reach us online at tips.fbi.gov.”
