BYNDfit Bosses Ripped Off $4M in COVID Funds

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Greed knows no bounds, and neither did Raymond Rahbar, Ryan Macaulay, and Carl Pierre. The trio of local businessmen have been sentenced to federal prison for orchestrating a brazen $4 million scheme to siphon funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a lifeline intended for struggling small businesses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of saving jobs, they lined their own pockets with taxpayer money.

The PPP, administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), authorized loans of up to $10 million to businesses crippled by the pandemic, based on certified employee numbers and payroll costs. Rahbar, 44, of Great Falls; Macaulay, 36, of Gambrills, Maryland; and Pierre, 37, of Alexandria, saw an opportunity – and they shamelessly exploited it. They co-founded BYNDfit, a Washington D.C. fitness center that existed more on paper than in reality. Between April 2020 and June 2021, they flooded the SBA with fraudulent PPP loan applications.

The scheme was simple, yet audacious. They grossly inflated the number of BYNDfit employees, fabricating payroll summaries and listing individuals who had *never* worked for the company. Court documents reveal they even preyed on local students, soliciting their names and personal information at a career fair – then listing them as employees without their knowledge or consent. They backed up their lies with fabricated tax forms, hoping to fool federal investigators. But the house of cards eventually tumbled.

The fraud didn’t stop with BYNDfit. Rahbar, displaying a particularly voracious appetite for illicit funds, extended the same deceptive practices to two construction companies he controlled: AMC Building Group and American Majestic Construction. In total, Rahbar illegally obtained at least $3.1 million in PPP loans and attempted to secure over $4 million. He pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft on April 10 and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

Macaulay, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and unlawful monetary transactions on April 15, received a two-year prison sentence. Pierre, who pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud on September 4, 2024, received a lenient one-day sentence on May 30. The disparity in sentencing raises questions about the extent of Pierre’s involvement, but all three men will now face the consequences of their actions.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristin S. Starr, Avi Panth, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hood secured the convictions. U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for the Eastern District of Virginia, along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis, announced the sentences following a hearing before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles. This case serves as a stark reminder that those who exploit crises for personal gain will be held accountable. The full press release and court documents can be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website for the Eastern District of Virginia and PACER (Case No. 1:24-cr-180).