Three former residents of the St. Louis area have pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme involving fraudulent loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brianna L. Bell-Maple, 24, Jemyla A. Bell, 39, and Leiah A. Vaughn, 23, admitted to applying for and obtaining $229,000 through Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
The three individuals confessed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to participating in a scheme from March 2021 to August 2021 where they each applied for four PPP loans using nearly identical applications. These applications falsely claimed that a nonexistent women's clothing store earned $121,003 in 2019 and sought the maximum loan amount of $20,833 per application. Falsified tax forms were also submitted as part of their fraudulent activities.
Eleven out of twelve loan applications were approved, resulting in $229,163 being obtained by the defendants. The PPP loans were intended to support small businesses with payroll during the pandemic; however, Bell-Maple used some of these funds to lease an apartment where she and Vaughn moved in April 2021.
Further misuse of the funds included personal expenditures such as shopping and dining expenses, cash withdrawals, and electronic transfers to friends and family members. On May 5, 2021, Vaughn and Bell-Maple spent $5,200 on a purebred puppy while two days later Bell-Maple and Bell purchased vehicles from the same dealership.
On August 9, 2021, they submitted eleven loan forgiveness applications falsely claiming that PPP money was spent on payroll expenses which led to approval based on these false claims.
Currently residing in Fresno, California, the trio is set for sentencing on June 9 with each wire fraud charge carrying potential penalties of up to twenty years imprisonment or a fine of $250,000 or both. They have agreed to a money judgment equivalent to the total value of fraudulently obtained PPP loans.
The FBI conducted an investigation into this case while Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is handling prosecution efforts.