U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Four South Florida Residents Charged with PPP and Mortgage Fraud (USAO SD-FL 03/13/2024) (2024-03-15)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, dated Wednesday, March 13, 2024, announcing that Raisha Kelly, 43, Widny Thibaud, 44, Cortira Gray, 33, and Ann Gilchrist, 55, have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud over false PPP loan applications, in case number 24-CR-20079. According to allegations in the indictment, Kelly submitted false PPP loan applications for Gilchrist, Gray and others in return for kickbacks, and the conspiracy caused PPP lenders to make approximately $1.3 million in loans. The indictment alleges that Gray was a U.S. Postal Service employee and Gilchrist a Miami-Dade Transit Department employee. Thibaud is also charged with a separate wire fraud scheme over a false mortgage loan application that resulted in a $700,000 mortgage.

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PRESS RELEASE



Four South Florida Residents
Charged with PPP and Mortgage
Fraud
Wednesday, March 13, 2024


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

MIAMI –Raisha Kelly, 43, and Widny Thibaud, 44, of Loxahatchee, Florida and Cortira Gray,
33, and Ann Gilchrist, 55 of Miami, Florida have been charged with conspiracy to commit
wire fraud wire fraud in connection with their submission of false and fraudulent PPP loan
applications.

According to allegations in the indictment and statements made in open court, Kelly,
Thibaud, Gray and Gilchrist conspired with themselves and others to submit PPP loan
applications and submitted and caused the submission of fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan
applications, on behalf of themselves and corporate entities that they controlled. Kelly, in
return for the payment of kickbacks, submitted and caused the submission of false and
fraudulent PPP loan applications for Gilchrist, Gray and others. Kelly, Thibaud, Gray and
Gilchrist submitted and caused the submission of false and fraudulent information and
documentation in support of the PPP loan applications, including falsified Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) forms, among other things that falsely and fraudulently represented
the annual gross receipts and tentative profits of the sole proprietorships and corporate
entities they controlled. In total, this conspiracy caused PPP lenders to make
approximately $1.3 million in loans to Kelly, Thibaud, Gray, Gilchrist and their co-
conspirators.

According to allegations, during the commission of the conspiracy Gray was an employee
of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Gilchrist was an employee of the Miami-Dade Transit
Department.

Thibaud is also charged with a separate wire fraud scheme for his submission of a false
and fraudulent mortgage loan application to a mortgage lender that caused Thibaud to
receive a $700,000 mortgage for which he was not qualified.
Gray, Gilcrhist and Kelly had their initial appearances on March 11. Thibaud had his initial
appearance on March 12.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan Ulrich,
Special Agent in Charge, USPS Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG), Special Agent in
Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector
General (SBA OIG), Investigations Division’s Eastern Region, and Special Agent in Charge
Mathew Broadhurst of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-
OIG), Southeast Region made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the USPS OIG, SBA OIG, and DOL-OIG. This case is being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bernstein.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are
presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was
enacted. It was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of
Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among
other sources of relief, the CARES Act authorized and provided funding to the SBA to
provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans (“EIDLs”) to eligible small businesses, including
sole proprietorships and independent contractors, experiencing substantial financial
disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to meet financial obligations
and operating expenses that could otherwise have been met had the disaster not
occurred. EIDL applications were submitted directly to the SBA via the SBA’s on-line
application website, and the applications were processed and the loans funded for
qualifying applicants directly by the SBA.

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 https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the Southern District of Florida’s
U.S. Attorney’s Office to head one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams.
The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to
combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud. For more information on the
department’s           response         to       the        pandemic,         please
click https://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: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District
Court    for   the     Southern    District   of Florida   at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or
on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-CR-20079.

                                          ###

Contact
Public Affairs Unit

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Florida

USAFLS.News@usdoj.gov

Updated March 13, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

DISASTER FRAUD

MORTGAGE FRAUD


Component
USAO - Florida, Southern


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