Florida Woman Sentenced to Prison for Pandemic-Related Fraud

ATLANTA - Calah Williams has been sentenced for stealing Economic Injury Disaster Loan ("EIDL"), Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"), and unemployment insurance ("UI") benefits made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Williams stole from programs designed to help the public during a global crisis and now she will face the consequences," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "This prosecution demonstrates our office's continuing commitment to holding individuals accountable for defrauding the CARES Act program."

"The investigative efforts of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and its partners, combined with the prosecutorial efforts of the U.S. Attorney's Office, demonstrate their commitment to pursuing, capturing, and prosecuting those who try to defraud the American people," stated Special Agent in Charge Scott Moffit.

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: Williams defrauded multiple government agencies - including the Small Business Administration and 10 state agencies responsible for UI benefits - by filing fraudulent EIDL, PPP, and UI benefits applications, sometimes using stolen personally identifying information. The various applications were littered with false information, including income numbers, the number of employees, employee names, and the applicant information. In total, Williams filed 42 EIDL applications, 16 PPP applications, and 177 fraudulent UI benefits applications, seeking at least approximately $4,879,641. Much of her fraud was immediately detected and stopped, but she was successful in obtaining approximately $1,026,241.

Calah Williams, 29, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May to three years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,026,241. Williams was convicted on these charges on July 31, 2024, after she pleaded guilty.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Samir Kaushal prosecuted the case.

On May 17, 2021, the 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, among other methods, 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

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 at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.