WORCESTER, MA – William Cordor, 27, of Leicester, Massachusetts, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced yesterday for a brazen scheme to steal from pandemic relief programs. Cordor received 33 months behind bars and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft.
The fraud unfolded between May and October 2020, with Cordor targeting both the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program in Nevada and the Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. He didn’t bother with legitimate applications; instead, Cordor pilfered the personal information of unsuspecting individuals – names, Social Security numbers, the works – and used it to file fraudulent claims. While Nevada authorities flagged the unemployment claims as bogus before funds were disbursed, the SBA wasn’t so lucky.
Cordor successfully secured an SBA loan using a stolen identity, then promptly blew the cash on a Florida vacation. Receipts show the funds went towards plane tickets, fancy hotels, restaurant bills, entertainment, and shopping sprees. He treated himself while legitimate businesses struggled and families faced hardship due to the pandemic. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was a calculated effort to exploit a national crisis for personal gain.
This wasn’t Cordor’s first brush with pandemic-related fraud. Just months before initiating the Nevada and SBA schemes, in May 2020, Cordor surrendered $79,000 from a separate unemployment fraud operation in Massachusetts to federal authorities. This demonstrates a pattern of behavior – a willingness to repeatedly exploit the system, even after being caught once. The fact that he continued the fraud just weeks later is particularly damning.
The sentencing was announced jointly by U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins, Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, and Andrew Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office. The Leicester and Marlboro Police Departments also provided valuable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. Mulcahy and Danial Bennett prosecuted the case.
This case is part of the Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established to combat pandemic-related fraud. Anyone with information about COVID-19 fraud is encouraged to report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or through the online complaint form at justice.gov/disaster-fraud. Cordor’s sentence sends a clear message: exploiting a crisis for personal enrichment won’t be tolerated, and those who do will face the consequences.”
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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