Georgia Woman Sentenced for COVID-19 Era Paycheck Protection Program Loan Fraud

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA – Today, Acting United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross announced the sentencing of a LaGrange, Georgia woman following her conviction on bank fraud charges related to loans she received through the Paycheck Protection Program. On January 18, 2024, a federal judge sentenced 53-year-old Pamela Denise Williams to 33 months in prison. The judge also ordered that Williams serve five years of supervised release following her prison term. Federal inmates are not eligible for parole.

According to her plea agreement and other court records, on May 26, 2021, Williams applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan from a credit union located in Chambers County, Alabama. When she did so, she put false information on the application making herself eligible to receive a larger loan amount. The Paycheck Protection Program was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In her plea agreement, Williams specifically admitted that she “knowingly and fraudulently” overstated her business’s income. Additionally, in her application Williams falsely represented that the loan proceeds would be used for approved purposes, such as payroll. However, Williams admitted to diverting the funds for unallowed purposes. In addition to her prison sentence, the judge also ordered Williams to forfeit $121,000 and pay a $15,000 fine. The total intended loss amount from Williams’ fraud exceeded $1,500,000. A hearing will be set in the coming months to determine the amount of restitution owed by Williams based on actual losses to the financial institutions.

On May 17, 2021, the United States 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 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. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.  

The United States Secret Service investigated this case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric M. Counts, Joel Feil, and Michelle R. Turner prosecuted.