Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Profiles Keyaira Bostic

Profiles · Principals

ProfilePerson

Keyaira Bostic

Executive

PPP
Type
Person
Role
Executive
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, paying a kickback to scheme leader James Stote and referring other applicants who obtained nearly $2 million; sentenced to 44 months.

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.

Biography / career arc

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 case / pandemic-relief role

According to the evidence at trial, as DOJ summarized it, Bostic obtained a PPP loan of $84,515 for I Am Liquid Inc. based on false information about the company's number of employees and average payroll, supported by false tax and bank documents. She paid Stote more than $21,000 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

Her own loan was the $84,515 PPP loan to I Am Liquid Inc. 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.

  • 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).

Where they are now (2025–2026)

The last record we have is DOJ's February 3, 2022 sentencing release. We have no later record of her case.

Sources held in this archive

  • James Stote — prepared her application and received her kickback; sentenced to ten years

Sources

Back to top