OXFORD, MS – A federal jury convicted a Columbus man and a Clarksdale woman today for applying for and receiving a fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ramirez Ivy, of Columbus, Mississippi and Felicia Smith of Clarksdale, Mississippi conspired with Lakeith Faulkner, Norman Beckwood and others to each receive $200,000 from the SBA based on fraudulent loan applications. The loan applications contained fictitious documents and claimed business revenue that did not exist.
After a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, the jury found both Ivy and Smith guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to the fraudulent loan applications as well as one count each of aiding and abetting wire fraud.
On December 7, 2022, Faulkner, a former SBA employee, entered a plea of guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On May 24, 2023, U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown sentenced Faulkner to serve 62 months imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. Faulkner was also ordered to pay $10,620,452.26 in restitution to the SBA.
On January 17, 2023, Beckwood entered a plea of guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Beckwood to serve 62 months imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. In addition to prison time, Beckwood was ordered to pay $10,620,452.26 in restitution to the SBA. In connection with his guilty plea, Beckwood also forfeited $700,147.74, a 2018 Mercedez Benz C Class and a 2020 Mercedes Benz G63.
This scheme was initially uncovered during a civil investigation, led by the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Harland Webster. Thirty (30) other individual borrowers have also been charged in connection with the same scheme.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clayton A. Dabbs and Parker King and Sam Wright of the Northern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the criminal case. The case is being investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
