Beckley Man Sentenced for COVID-19 Relief Fraud

Press Release

Business Owner Paid $902,475.49 to Satisfy Restitution and Civil Penalty

BECKLEY, W.Va. - Mark William Bailey, 51, of Beckley, was sentenced on Friday, October 25, 2024, to five years of federal probation, including one year on home detention, and ordered to pay $451,237.51 in restitution for theft of government monies. Bailey admitted to stealing approximately $451,237.51 in COVID-19 relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Bailey has fully paid the restitution and an additional $451,237.98 as a civil penalty to settle False Claims Act allegations.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on July 10, 2020, Bailey was the sole owner and president of RMR Delivery Service Inc. when he obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for $150,000. The EIDL program was created by the CARES Act for eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. EIDL proceeds can only be used on certain permissible business expenses, which can include payment of fixed business debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other business-related expenses that could have been paid had the COVID-19 disaster not occurred.

Bailey sought two modifications of his EIDL, increasing the loan amount first to $500,000 and then to $2 million. To obtain each modification, Bailey certified that RMR Delivery Service Inc. would use all loan proceeds solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic. Bailey admitted that he fraudulently used approximately $403,768.04 of the EIDL proceeds for his own personal benefit from about March 1, 2022 through about October 20, 2022. Among other personal uses, Bailey purchased a garage and a personal vehicle with the EIDL proceeds.

In or around April 2020, Bailey also applied for and received a $110,032 loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Also created by the CARES Act for qualifying small businesses, PPP loans were for job retention and certain other business expenses. Bailey admitted that he misappropriated $47,469.47 of the PPP loan to pay his personal mortgage on or about June 4, 2020.

"Mr. Bailey was required to pay not only full restitution but also an equally substantial civil penalty, which represents another tool to bring to justice those who stole COVID-19 relief funds during a national emergency," said United States Attorney Will Thompson. "The outcome in this case sends a message to others throughout West Virginia and the United States who are or were engaged in pandemic relief fraud schemes that the consequences for such conduct are serious."

Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Inspector General (NASA OIG), the United States Secret Service, the West Virginia State Police-Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) and the West Virginia State Auditor's Office (WVSAO) Public Integrity and Fraud Unit (PIFU).

NASA OIG is an active member of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force. The PRAC was established to promote transparency and facilitate coordinated oversight of the federal government's COVID-19 pandemic response. The PRAC's 20 member Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency boundaries to detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5 trillion in COVID-19 spending, including spending via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. This case was also supported by the PRAC's Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, which applies the latest advances in analytic and forensic technologies to help OIGs and law enforcement pursue data-driven pandemic relief fraud investigations.

Chief United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes prosecuted the case.

The CARES Act is a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who suffered the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 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.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:23-cr-131.

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Updated October 28, 2024