Profiles · Fraud defendants
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Defendant
- Programs
- PPP
- Updated
The profile
Pembroke Pines, Florida woman convicted by a federal jury in November 2021 of obtaining an $84,515 PPP loan on false payroll figures. She paid scheme leader James Stote a kickback and referred applicants who obtained nearly $2 million. Sentenced to 44 months.
In the archive
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- Profile: Diamond Blue Smith
- Profile: Ross Charno
Identity and role
Keyaira Bostic, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, owned I Am Liquid Inc., according to the Justice Department. She was 31 when charged in August 2020 and 32 at her conviction and sentencing. She was one of the borrowers and recruiters in the nationwide PPP scheme led by James Stote and Phillip J. Augustin, in which DOJ says 25 people were charged across three federal districts.
Borrower and recruiter
The DOJ releases describe one business, I Am Liquid Inc., and no other career. The 2020 charging release alleged that she, like two other defendants charged with her, sought PPP loans for her own company and recruited other applicants "in exchange for a share of the loan proceeds."
The loan and the referrals
According to the evidence at trial, as DOJ summarized it, Bostic obtained a PPP loan of $84,515 for I Am Liquid Inc. on false employee counts and payroll figures, backed by false tax and bank documents. She paid Stote more than $21,000, about a quarter of the loan, as a kickback for preparing and submitting the application. In exchange for kickbacks, she referred other applicants to the scheme, and Stote submitted fraudulent applications for them. Those applicants sought more than $3.3 million and obtained nearly $2 million in PPP loan proceeds.
Their own relief
The court ordered $124,515 in forfeiture and about $1.3 million in restitution; DOJ's sentencing release describes her as having defrauded the PPP "of more than $3.3 million in loans," counting the applicants she referred.
Legal status
- Charged: by federal criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida on August 3, 2020, with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud; DOJ announced the charges on August 6, 2020.
- Convicted: by a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale on November 24, 2021, of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. She was found not guilty of bank fraud.
- Sentenced: February 3, 2022: 44 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and the restitution and forfeiture above (DOJ).
Since 2022
The last record we have is DOJ's February 3, 2022 sentencing release. We have no later record of her case.
Documents on this site
Related profiles
- James Stote — prepared her application and received her kickback; sentenced to ten years
Case filings and prosecutions
- United States v. James Richard Stote, court filings
- PPP prosecutions in the Southern District of Florida
- PPP prosecutions in the Northern District of Ohio
Sources
- DOJ USAO-N.D. Ohio, "Nine charged in $24 million COVID-relief fraud scheme" (Aug. 6, 2020): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/nine-charged-24-million-covid-relief-fraud-scheme
- DOJ, "Nine Charged with $24 Million COVID-Relief Fraud Scheme" (Aug. 6, 2020): https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nine-charged-24-million-covid-relief-fraud-scheme
- DOJ, "Florida Woman Convicted of COVID-19 Relief Fraud" (Nov. 29, 2021): https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/florida-woman-convicted-covid-19-relief-fraud
- USAO S.D. Fla., "South Florida Federal Jury Convicts Woman of COVID-19 Relief Fraud" (Nov. 30, 2021): https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/south-florida-federal-jury-convicts-woman-covid-19-relief-fraud
- DOJ, "Two Florida Residents Sentenced to Prison for COVID-19 Relief Fraud" (Feb. 3, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/two-florida-residents-sentenced-prison-covid-19-relief-fraud
- USAO N.D. Ohio, "Two Florida Men Sentenced to Ten and Six and a Half Years in Prison for Roles in Massive COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme" (May 6, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/two-florida-men-sentenced-ten-and-six-and-half-years-prison-roles-massive-covid-19