A Seattle man has been sentenced to three years in prison for fraud schemes that targeted his employer, government programs, and a former partner. Westcott Francis-Curley, 31, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Francis-Curley has been in custody since March 2024 after being indicted in August 2023. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez imposed three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $689,675 in restitution to the victims.
"Mr. Francis-Curley’s fraud spiral stemmed from greed," said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. "After his employer discovered his theft, he stole from a program designed to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. And when those proceeds were gone, he committed identity theft against his former romantic partner."
The first scheme began in 2019 when Francis-Curley embezzled money from his employer by misusing cloud computing resources and accounts available to him as an employee. He used company funds and work authorizations to purchase cloud computing resources and then sold or leased them back at inflated prices, obtaining more than $550,000 before being caught attempting another half-million dollar fraud.
In 2020, he defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by filing paperwork for companies that did not qualify for assistance but obtained nearly $100,000 nonetheless.
Finally, in October 2022, Francis-Curley committed identity theft by applying for a credit card using his former significant other's name and accrued over $1,000 in personal expenses.
Assistant United States Attorney David T. Martin stated: "He had a comfortable life and a lucrative job... Leveraging a bit of Google research and the trust of his employer... Within weeks of commencing the scheme... Only getting caught stopped that unabashed escalation."
Francis-Curley agreed to pay restitution to all parties affected by his actions: his former employer, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the individual whose identity he used.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David T. Martin.