Miami, FL – Willie Curry, 58, a former Miami-Dade County employee, is headed to federal prison after admitting to a brazen scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) out of COVID-19 relief funds. Curry was sentenced today to six months imprisonment, followed by a year of supervised release, by Senior United States District Judge James Lawrence King.
The scheme centered around a fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Curry claimed to be the owner of “Will Curry Computers,” a business he falsely stated was established in 2015 and had raked in $755,416 in revenue in the year prior to the application, with a staff of ten. The reality? Curry launched the company in 2020, it barely generated any income, and employed zero people. Despite being a full-time Network Manager for Miami-Dade County—and suffering no financial loss due to the pandemic—Curry attempted to exploit the CARES Act.
The SBA initially approved Curry’s fraudulent application, disbursing a $10,000 advance and a $150,000 loan. However, the funds were flagged when sent to Curry’s initially listed bank, which promptly returned the money to the SBA. Undeterred, Curry bombarded the SBA with requests to redirect the funds to a different account, a desperate attempt to salvage his ill-gotten gains. His efforts ultimately failed.
Judge King acknowledged Curry’s seven years of service in the U.S. Army when handing down the sentence, but ultimately held him accountable for his deliberate attempt to steal from a program designed to help those genuinely impacted by the pandemic. In addition to the prison sentence and supervised release (with the first six months served under home confinement), Curry was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
The investigation was a collaborative effort spearheaded by the FBI Miami’s Area Corruption Task Force, including officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department and the SBA’s Office of Inspector General. The Miami-Dade County Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service provided crucial assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward N. Stamm prosecuted the case on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez, FBI Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro, and SBA-OIG Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite all issued statements emphasizing the importance of protecting pandemic relief programs from fraud. The CARES Act, enacted in March 2020, aimed to provide vital financial assistance to those struggling during the COVID-19 crisis, and authorities are determined to prosecute those who attempted to profit illegally from it.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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