Group Accused Of $24 Million COVID-19 Fraud

CLEVELAND — A group of people have been accused of perpetrating a COVID-19 scam on Ohioans, the Department of Justice announced.

According to prosecutors, the group was involved in filing fraudulent loan applications, for more than $24 million, in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

“While the entire world was focused on dealing with a pandemic, it is alleged that these individuals were selfishly focused on exploiting programs designed to help people survive financially during the shutdown,” FBI Agent Eric B. Smith said.

Five people were named in the indictment:

• Phillip Augustin, 51, of Florida — charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and obstruction of justice
• Wyleia Nashon Williams, 44, of Florida — charged with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud
• James Stote, of Florida — charged with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commite wire and bank fraud
• Deon Levy, of Bedford, Ohio — charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud
• Abdul-Azeem Levy, of Cleveland — charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud

The Indictments

According to the Department of Justice's complaints, Augustin started the scheme by trying to fraudulently get a loan for his company, Clear Vision Music Group, by faking documents. After he submitted his application for a loan, he recruited Williams to filed more fraudulent loans on behalf of others with the promise of kickbacks, prosecutors said.

Due to the success they had with Clear Vision's PPP loan application, Williams and Augustin tried to obtain more, and bigger, PPP loans, prosecutors said. The applications were built around fake payroll numbers, falsified IRS forms, phony bank statements and counterfeit checks, the complaint said.

“As many of our family, friends and neighbors suffered adverse economic consequences from our nation’s response to a global pandemic, these defendants were allegedly looking for ways to profit off of our collective troubles and fears,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said.

Williams, Augustin and their band of conspirators tried to obtain more than $24 million in loans., according to the DOJ. Many of the applications were approved and paid out at least $17.4 million, the department said.

At least two loans went to groups in Northeast Ohio, which received approximately $875,000, prosecutors said.

“Criminals seize on every opportunity to exploit bad situations, and this pandemic is no exception,” said Bryant Jackson, IRS-CI, Cincinnati Field Office. “The Paycheck Protection Program under the CARES Act was designed to help Americans struggling with financial hardship and IRS Criminal Investigation along with our federal law enforcement partners will be aggressive in investigating anyone who allegedly defrauds this critical program.”