Las Vegas Man Sentenced to Prison for COVID-19 Relief Loan Scheme Committed While on Supervised Release

Summary

A March 14, 2024 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada announcing that United States District Judge Cristina D. Silva sentenced Arian Anthony Bailey, 34, of Las Vegas to two and a half years in prison and three years of supervised release for a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $550,000 through PPP and EIDL loan applications. The release states that Bailey was on federal supervised release for felony drug and gun convictions at the time, and submitted applications for businesses that did not exist, including a home health services business, with false revenue figures and fraudulent documentation. It says the loss caused by the scheme was $46,731.39, which he was ordered to pay in restitution.

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LAS VEGAS
– A Las Vegas man was sentenced today by United States District Judge Cristina D. Silva to two and a half years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for devising a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $550,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loan applications that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to court documents, at the time of the fraud scheme, Arian Anthony Bailey, 34, was serving a term of federal supervised release for felony drug and gun convictions. While on release, Bailey devised a scheme to defraud the SBA. As part of the scheme, Bailey submitted on behalf of businesses – including a home health services business – that did not exist loan applications that contained false information, including: (a) false revenue amounts for non-existent companies, and (b) false certifications that Bailey would spend the loan money on business expenses, such as payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. He also provided fraudulent documentation in support of his loan applications. The loss caused by Bailey’s scheme was $46,731.39.
In addition to the prison term, Bailey was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $46,731.39.
United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada, Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI, Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King for the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG), and Special Agent in Charge Jon W. Ellwanger for the Western Region, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-CFPB OIG) made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the SBA OIG, and the FRB-CFPB OIG. Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly Frayn prosecuted the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit
www.justice.gov/coronavirus
.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at
www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form
.
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