Antawn Davis, COVID-19 Relief Fund Fraud, Massachusetts 2024

BOSTON, MA – A Boston man has pleaded guilty to a scheme to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a federal program established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Antawn Davis, 39, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements in connection with the scheme, which resulted in the defendant receiving nearly $50,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.

According to the plea agreement, Davis submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of his purported business in April and May 2021, containing multiple false statements, including the purported business’ total gross income in 2020 and the purpose of the loan. Davis also submitted false tax records in support of his loan applications.

Based on the fraudulent applications, Davis received approximately $49,999 in PPP loans, which he then spent on non-business-related expenses, including transactions at a casino and at Saks Fifth Avenue.

The charge of wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The charge of making false statements carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $10,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Davis is scheduled to be sentenced on September 16, 2024. The case was investigated by the Boston Police Department, the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations.

The COVID-19 Relief Fund Fraud is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. The OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Additionally, 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.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/boston-man-pleads-guilty-fraudulently-obtaining-nearly-50000-covid-relief-funds