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Attallah Williams

Defendant

ERC
Type
Person
Role
Defendant
Programs
ERC
Updated

The profile

A Hampton, Georgia woman who worked first as an SBA loan officer and then as an IRS tax examining technician, and used both jobs to push through fraudulent pandemic claims for a share of the money, recruiting applicants on Instagram. The claims topped $3.5 million; $3,272,000 went out. She was sentenced in September 2026 to six and a half years in prison.

Identity and role

Attallah Williams, 33 at sentencing, of Hampton, Georgia, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia after an investigation by the SBA Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, with help from the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

The U.S. Attorney's Office describes a three-year scheme against four pandemic programs, in this order:

  1. Economic Injury Disaster Loans, applied for in the names of businesses that were not operating.
  2. A Paycheck Protection Program loan for a business that was not operating.
  3. The EIDL Advance grant program, from the inside. Williams got a job as an SBA loan officer, advertised on Instagram for applicants who, under her guidance, applied in the names of nonexistent or ineligible businesses, and then approved their applications "in exchange for a share of the proceeds." She promised referral fees to conspirators for every new participant they brought in.
  4. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC), also from the inside. Williams left the SBA to become an IRS tax examining technician, advertised again, and helped recruits submit fraudulent tax documents to claim the ERC, taking a fee for each application.

In all, the office says, she submitted false claims for more than $3.5 million, and $3,272,000 was distributed "before the scheme was disrupted." The releases do not break the total down by program, so the ERC share is not known.

  • Charged: announced January 12, 2026.
  • Pleaded guilty: February 11, 2026, to conspiracy to defraud the United States through fraudulent claims.
  • Sentenced: September 1, 2026, to six years and six months in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,272,000 in restitution, the full amount distributed.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

The September 2026 sentence is the last public record of Williams we found. The releases do not say when she was hired or left either agency.

Sources

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