Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Profiles Fraud defendants Letez Osiris Bey

Profiles · Fraud defendants

ProfilePerson

Letez Osiris Bey

Defendant

EIDL
Type
Person
Role
Defendant
Programs
EIDL
Updated

The profile

One of four men convicted at trial in a Milwaukee EIDL, PPP and unemployment-fraud case; he filed jobless claims in other people's names in Illinois and California and was sentenced in February 2024 to 80 months in prison.

Identity and role

Letez Osiris Bey was indicted on August 23, 2022, in United States v. Bey, No. 2:22-cr-00169 (E.D. Wis.), with Aziz Hassan Bey, Minister Zakar Ali and Divine-Seven El. He represented himself at trial, as did the other three.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the four men filed multiple EIDL and PPP applications between June 2020 and July 2021 for businesses that were not operating, with false employee counts, revenues and cost of goods sold, trying for more than $9.5 million in loans; the SBA paid out about $775,000 in EIDL money.

His separate part was unemployment insurance. The office said he filed claims in Illinois and California in the names of other people and had the states mail the benefit debit cards to addresses used by Aziz Hassan Bey and Ali, and that he "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in UI funds from unemployment claims in the names of others." The office put the loss from the unemployment scheme, which also included claims filed in Georgia, at more than $600,000.

  • Indicted: August 23, 2022: conspiracy to commit wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349), wire fraud and mail fraud. The court denied his motion to dismiss the indictment on August 10, 2023.
  • Convicted: by a jury on October 17, 2023, on Counts 1, 3 and 11.
  • Sentenced: February 1, 2024, by U.S. District Judge J. P. Stadtmueller, to 80 months in prison, the shortest of the four sentences, and three years of supervised release. The office said the four restitution orders ranged from $1.6 million to more than $2.2 million.
  • Appeal: none. The Seventh Circuit noted in July 2026 that he did not file a notice of appeal.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

With no appeal filed, the February 2024 judgment stands. We found no later public record of him.

Sources

Back to top