Huntington Man Sentenced for Role in COVID-19 Fraud Conspiracy

Summary

An August 14, 2025 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia announcing that United States District Judge Irene C. Berger sentenced William Powell, 35, of Huntington to six months on home detention and three years of supervised release, and ordered $15,625 in restitution, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The release states that co-defendant Kisha Sutton submitted a PPP application for Powell on April 19, 2021 listing him as a sole proprietor hair stylist with $75,000 in 2020 gross income, supported by a fraudulent IRS Form 1040 Schedule C. It says Powell received $15,625, sent $2,000 to Sutton and spent the rest on personal expenses. Sutton was convicted at trial on July 15, 2025, and the case number is 2:24-cr-192.

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“Huntington Man Sentenced for Role in COVID-19 Fraud Conspiracy.” Original at www.justice.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-08-14-huntington-man-sentenced-for-role-in-covid-19-fraud-conspir-558b6a9149/, SHA-256 a4b538269c9adcda0546d6b9acf7c0571a446ac6174e0c2e952d013d5878f07e.

Full text

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – William Powell, 35, of Huntington, was sentenced today to six months on home detention, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $15,625 in restitution for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Powell admitted that he received $15,625 in proceeds from a criminally derived Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan, guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
According to court documents and statements made in court, co-defendant Kisha Sutton conspired with Powell and others to obtain fraudulent PPP loans. Sutton submitted a PPP loan application on Powell’s behalf on April 19, 2021, listing Powell as a sole proprietor hair stylist who received $75,000 in gross income in 2020. The application was filed with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040, Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business, stating that Powell had earned $75,000 in 2020. As part of his guilty plea, Powell admitted that he never earned $75,000 as a hair stylist in one year. Powell further admitted that the IRS Form 1040 submitted with his application was fraudulent and created solely to obtain the PPP loan.
A PPP lender in Florida approved Powell’s loan application. The $15,625 in proceeds from the fraudulent loan was deposited in Powell’s personal bank account on June 29 2021. Between July 6 and July 20, 2021, Powell transferred $2,000 to Sutton from the fraudulent PPP loan proceeds using a digital wallet application. Powell admitted that he spent the remainder of the fraudulent loan proceeds on personal expenses.
The CARES Act made forgivable PPP loans available to qualifying sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to replace their normal income and for certain other expenses. Applicants were required to certify that they were in operation on February 15, 2020, and provide documentation showing their prior gross income from either 2019 or 2020.
Powell and Sutton among several individuals indicted by a federal grand jury on charges alleging they and others conspired, as well as aided and abetted one another, to obtain fraudulent PPP loans totaling $140,625. Sutton, 44, of Jersey City, New Jersey, was found guilty on July 15, 2025, of aiding and abetting bank fraud and aiding and abetting laundering of monetary instruments by a federal jury following a two-day trial. Sutton is scheduled to be sentenced on November 13, 2025. The three remaining co-defendants pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia State Police – Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU).
United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan T. Storage and Jennifer D. Gordon and former Assistant United States Attorney Holly Wilson prosecuted the case.
Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at:
https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form
.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the
U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on
PACER
by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-192.
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