Information — United States v. Creed White, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Document 1)
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An Information in United States of America v. Creed White, No. 1:23-CR-303, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Document 1, filed 11/29/23 in Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW. Count 1 charges Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1349, and Count 2 charges Money Laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a). The Information alleges that Creed White filed and caused others to file more than 120 applications for PPP loans and EIDLs on behalf of non-operational businesses, of which 42 were approved for more than $11,500,000. Count 2 alleges a transfer of $225,000 on or about August 7, 2020. It also contains a forfeiture allegation.
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“Information — United States v. Creed White, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Document 1).”
Original at ecf.pamd.uscourts.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/information-usa-v-white-dkt-1-81e14a49aa/
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 1 of 13
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : No. 1:23-CR-303
:
v. : (JUDGE Kane )
:
CREED WHITE, :
Defendant. :
INFORMATION
THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHARGES:
COUNT 1
18 U.S.C. § 1349
(Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud)
I. BACKGROUND
At times material to this Information:
RELEVANT INDIVIDUALS
1. Defendant Creed White owned and operated an aluminum
smelting and processing business in Yoe, York County, Pennsylvania
called Aluminum Alloys Mfg, LLC (“Aluminum Alloys”).
2. Employee #1 was an employee of Aluminum Alloys and was
primarily responsible for service and sales.
3. Employee #2 was an employee of Aluminum Alloys and was
primarily responsible for bookkeeping and accounting services.
Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 2 of 13
4. Employee #3 lived on the premises at Aluminum Alloys and
was employed by or provided various services to Aluminum Alloys at
Creed White’s direction.
5. In addition to Aluminum Alloys, Creed White owned or
controlled 18 other corporate entities, none of which had employees or
business operations. These dormant, non-operational entities included:
Aluminum Alloy Transportation & Repair LLC; American Scrap LLC;
Atlantic Coast Aluminum Inc.; Atlantic Coast Aluminum LLC; Busche
Alum Tech LLC; Gettysburg Foundry Specialties Corp.; Hanover
Resource Recovery Corp.; House of Windsor LLC; Linamar USA, LLC;
Mahoney Foundries LLC; Moran Materials Recycling Inc.; Pinnacle
Cores LLC; Scrap Transport LLC; Tap Enterprises LLC; Tape
Enterprises American Aluminum Alloys LLC; Tristate Commodities
LLC; Waynesboro Recycling LLC; and White Metal Recycling Company
LLC (collectively, “the Non-Operational Businesses”).
THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM
6. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was a COVID-19
pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business
Administration (SBA), which provided forgivable loans to small
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businesses for job retention and certain other expenses. The PPP
permitted participating third-party lenders to approve and disburse
SBA-backed PPP loans to cover payroll, fixed debts, utilities,
rent/mortgage obligations, accounts payable, and other bills incurred by
qualifying businesses during, and resulting from, the COVID-19
pandemic. PPP loans were fully guaranteed by the SBA.
7. To obtain a PPP loan, a qualifying business had to submit a
PPP loan application, which was signed by an authorized
representative of the business. The PPP loan application required the
business (through its authorized representative) to acknowledge the
program rules and make certain affirmative certifications to be eligible
to obtain a PPP loan. These certifications included that the business
was in operation and either had employees for whom it paid salaries
and payroll taxes, or paid independent contractors. A business applying
for a PPP loan was required to provide documentation to demonstrate
its payroll expenses, such as filed federal income tax documents. The
applicant for a PPP loan was required to certify that the information
included as part of the application was true and correct and
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 4 of 13
acknowledged that false or fraudulent representations could subject the
applicant to prosecution.
8. PPP loan applications were completed, signed, and
submitted or caused to be submitted electronically by the borrower.
The applications were received through SBA servers located in Virginia
and Oregon. Once approved, the business received the PPP loan
proceeds via an electronic funds transfer from the third-party lender to
a financial account under the control of the borrower business.
9. As noted, the proceeds of a PPP loan could be used only for
specific purposes, including payroll costs, costs related to continuation
of group healthcare benefits, or mortgage interest payments. The
proceeds of a PPP loan were not permitted to be used by borrowers to
purchase real property or make capital improvements. The loan
proceeds were also not permitted to be used to purchase consumer
goods, automobiles, or to fund the borrower’s ordinary day-to-day living
expenses unrelated to the specific authorized expenses.
THE ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOAN PROGRAM
10. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program was an
existing disaster-related program that was expanded by the
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 5 of 13
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act of
March 2020. The EIDL program was administered by the SBA and
provided low-interest financing (including forgivable advances of up to
$10,000) to small businesses and other eligible entities experiencing
substantial financial disruption resulting from the COVID-19
pandemic.
11. To obtain an EIDL, a qualifying business was required to
submit an application directly to the SBA and provide information
about the business’s operations, such as the number of employees, gross
revenues for the 12-month period preceding the disaster, and cost of
goods sold in the same 12-month period. In the case of EIDLs for
COVID-19 relief, the 12-month period was January 31, 2019, to
January 31, 2020. The applicant was also required to certify that all
the information in the application was true and correct to the best of the
applicant’s knowledge.
12. EIDL applications were submitted directly to the SBA via an
online portal and processed by the agency with support from a
government contractor. If the application was approved, the amount of
the loan was based, in part, on the information the applicant provided
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 6 of 13
about employment, revenue, and costs of goods sold. Any funds issued
as part of an EIDL came directly from the United States Treasury.
13. EIDL applications were received and processed using
computer servers located in the states of Iowa, Virginia, and
Washington. EIDL disbursements were initiated by the SBA using
computer servers located in the state of Colorado, which transmitted
the payment information to the United States Treasury using computer
servers located in the state of Virginia.
14. EIDL proceeds could be used only to pay fixed debts, payroll,
accounts payable, and other bills that could have been paid had the
disaster not occurred; however, such loan proceeds were not intended to
replace lost sales or profits or for expansion of a business.
II. STATUTORY ALLEGATION
15. Paragraphs 1 through 14 are incorporated here.
16. Beginning in or about March 2020, and continuing through
in or about September 2022, in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and
elsewhere, the defendant,
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 7 of 13
CREED WHITE,
knowingly and unlawfully combined, conspired, confederated and
agreed with Employee #1, Employee #2, Employee #3, and other
persons known and unknown to the United States Attorney, to
knowingly devise, and intend to devise, a scheme and artifice to defraud
the United States, and to obtain money and property by means of
materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and
promises, and for the purpose of executing the scheme and artifice to
defraud, and attempting to do so, transmitted and caused to be
transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce
writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds, in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1343.
III. MANNER AND MEANS
The conspiracy was accomplished, in part, by the following
manner and means:
17. It was part of the conspiracy that Creed White filed and
caused others to file, by means of the internet and interstate wires,
more than 120 applications for PPP loans and EIDLs with third-party
intermediary lenders and the SBA on behalf of the Non-Operational
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 8 of 13
Businesses. Of these applications, 42 PPP loan and EIDL applications
were approved, for more than $11,500,000 in funds that were
transferred by interstate wire into accounts that Creed White owned or
controlled.
18. It was further part of the conspiracy that Creed White made
and caused others to make, by means of the internet and interstate
wires, material misrepresentations in the PPP loan applications filed
with third-party intermediary lenders and FDIC-insured financial
institutions, and in the EIDL applications filed with the SBA.
19. For example, the PPP and EIDL applications Creed White
and his co-conspirators submitted and caused to be submitted included
material misrepresentations that the individuals listed as applicants on
the loan applications owned, controlled, or operated the Non-
Operational Businesses, when in fact they did not. The applications
also included material misrepresentations that the Non-Operational
Businesses under Creed White’s control had actual business operations,
when in fact they did not.
20. As further example, Creed White and his co-conspirators
caused the PPP loan and EIDL applications to include material
misrepresentations and false supporting documents, including false
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 9 of 13
information attesting to the number of employees purported to be
employed by the Non-Operational Businesses, fabricated bank and
other financial statements that Creed White and his co-conspirators
created to give the appearance that they were legitimate business
records, and false payroll information.
21. The applications further included material
misrepresentations and certifications that the PPP and EIDL funds
would be used for payroll costs, business-related purposes, and other
authorized expenditures, when Creed White and his co-conspirators
knew that they would not use the funds for those purposes.
22. It was further part of the conspiracy that Creed White and
his co-conspirators created, caused to be created, sent, and caused
others to send, by means of the internet and interstate wires, forged
documents to third-party intermediary lenders and FDIC-insured
financial institutions, in support of PPP loan applications, and to the
SBA in support of EIDL applications.
23. For example, Creed White and his co-conspirators created,
caused to be created, sent, and caused others to send, forged and
falsified Internal Revenue Service documents, including Forms 941
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 10 of 13
federal employment tax documents. Those forged and falsified IRS
documents contained material misrepresentations, including false
employee headcount information, fabricated information concerning
employee wages paid, taxes withheld, taxes remitted to the IRS,
income, gross receipts, costs of goods sold, and business expenses.
Moreover, the forged and falsified IRS documents were represented as
having been filed with the IRS, when in fact they were not.
24. It was further part of the conspiracy that Creed White and
his co-conspirators caused the proceeds of fraudulently obtained PPP
loans and EIDLs to be deposited, by means of interstate wires, into
bank accounts in Creed White’s name or under his control.
25. It was further part of the conspiracy that Creed White
transferred and caused others to transfer the proceeds of fraudulently
obtained PPP loans and EIDLs, by means of the internet and interstate
wires.
26. It was further part of the conspiracy that Creed White used
and caused others to use the proceeds of fraudulently obtained PPP and
EIDL funds for impermissible purposes, including to make capital
improvements to Aluminum Alloys, to purchase business vehicles and
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 11 of 13
other heavy equipment, to pay off business debts (including a mortgage
on a building), to purchase aluminum scrap, and to make other
unauthorized expenditures for his benefit and the benefit of his
businesses.
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.
COUNT 2
18 U.S.C. § 1957(a)
(Money Laundering)
27. On or about August 7, 2020, in the Middle District of
Pennsylvania and elsewhere, the defendant,
CREED WHITE,
did knowingly engage in a monetary transaction in criminally derived
property of a value greater than $10,000, and which in fact was derived
from specified unlawful activity, namely the defendant transferred
$225,000 from Citizens Bank account ending in x-6177 to Citizens Bank
account ending in x-2125, using funds that were obtained by wire fraud.
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957(a).
FORFEITURE ALLEGATION
1. The allegations contained in Counts 1 and 2 of this
Information are hereby realleged and incorporated by reference for the
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 12 of 13
purpose of alleging forfeiture pursuant to Title 18, United States Code,
Sections 981 and 982, and Title 28 United States Code, Section 2461(c).
2. Upon conviction of the offenses in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Sections, 1349 and 1957, the defendant,
CREED WHITE,
shall forfeit to the United States of America, pursuant to Title 18, United
States Code, Sections 981 and 982, and Title 28 United States Code,
Section 2461(c), any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is
derived from proceeds traceable to the offenses, and any property, real or
personal, involved in such offenses, or any property traceable to such
property, including but not limited to:
a. a Kubota RTV with plow, Model RTVX1100, bearing serial
number 28713;
b. a Kenworth Hook Lift, Model T270 (year: 2013), bearing
VIN 2NKHHM6XXDM348547;
c. approximately $550,107.51 in funds seized from the account
in the name of Aluminum Alloys, LLC, at First National
Bank, ending in -9411, on or about August 31, 2022; and
d. approximately $1,795.00 in funds seized from the account in
the name of Aluminum Alloys, LLC, at First National Bank,
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Case 1:23-cr-00303-JPW Document 1 Filed 11/29/23 Page 13 of 13
ending in -9411, on or about August 31,2022.
3. Ifany ofthe property described above, as a result ofany act or
omission of the defendant:
a. cannot be located upon the exercise ofdue diligencei
b. has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third
partyi
c. has been placed beyond the jurisdiction ofthe courti
d. has been substantially diminished in valuei or
e. has been commingled with other property which cannot be
divided without difficulty,
the United States of America shall be entitled to forfeiture of substitute
property pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Section 853(p), as
incorporated by Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c).
All pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section gS1(a)(l)(C).
Title 28. United States Code, Section 2467G), and Titte 18, United States
Code, Section 982.
GERARD M. KARAM
United States Attorney
&.2*t, tt lu fz,zS
CHRISTIAN T. HAU BY Date
Assistant United States Attorney
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