Milledgeville woman found guilty in COVID-19 loan fraud scheme, feds say
A Bibb County jury found a Milledgeville woman guilty Wednesday of spending over $1 million in fraudulent COVID-19 loans to pay for personal items, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Rosalend Way, 30, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering charges. The jury listened to evidence over three days that showed she and James Frank Austin Jr., a local businessman and politician, stole $2 million from pandemic relief loans, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
Way faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, federal prosecutors said. Her sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 2.
On the other hand, Austin, a former state House candidate and established the Austin Smith Center for Community Development in Macon, pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and two counts of money laundering.
He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Austin’s sentencing date is Nov. 19.
Austin gave Way $30k to pay off car
Way and Austin applied for funds through the Paycheck Protection Program, whichwas designed to help small businesses struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal prosecutors. Their first loan was filed on June 21, 2020, on behalf of the Propel Opportunity Fund, an investment company that Way owned.
In documents, they claimed that the company had 18 employees with an average monthly payroll of $420,558 and “needed the funds to make payroll, as well as pay their mortgage interest and utilities,” according to federal prosecutors. Way and Austin also claimed that they had paid $4,999,789 in wages the year before.
Way’s loan was approved and given $1,051,395, with $500,000 ending up in her bank account and was spent on dining, retail, gas, groceries and cash withdrawals, federal prosecutors said.
However, records from the Internal Revenue Service established that the Propel Opportunity Fund “did not pay any salaries or wages, nor did Propel’s bank statements reflect payroll as suggested,” federal prosecutors said.
Austin submitted a fraudulent loan application on May 9, 2020, for the Austin Smith Center for Community Development and was awarded $654,315. Another fake loan application was submitted, for which he received $372,500.
In total, Austin obtained $2,078,210 in loans, according to federal prosecutors.
He spent $119,840 on a Bentley and gave $30,000 to Way for her to pay off her Mercedez-Benz.
