Woman Sentenced to One Year in Prison for Pandemic Loan Fraud

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a woman who fraudulently sought loans during the COVID-19 pandemic for a fake company called the "Barbie Factory" to a year and a day in prison.

Juashayla Jane Walls, 31, of Jennings, Missouri, was also ordered to repay $55,833 and will be placed on supervised release for five years after her release from prison.

Walls was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July, but after she claimed she used some of the money for another one of her businesses, Judge Schelp ordered an accounting of where every dollar of the loan money went. In one example he gave in court Tuesday, he said she spent nearly $8,000 at a casino. Walls also spent loan money on shopping trips and other personal purchases, her plea agreement says

Judge Schelp called the crime "sickening" and "disheartening," as it came during a worldwide crisis and took money from a program that was intended to help struggling American businesses and jobs during the pandemic.

Walls submitted a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application on Aug. 25, 2020, seeking $20,000 for the "Barbie Factory." Walls falsely claimed that the company was in operation, had four employees and a monthly payroll of $8,000. She also submitted a fraudulent Internal Revenue Service tax form that said employees had been paid a total of $96,000 in wages, tips and other compensation.

On March 2, 2021, Walls submitted a loan forgiveness application, falsely claiming that she had used the loan for payroll. Her application was approved and the loan was forgiven.

Walls' second loan application for $20,000 was not approved.

A third application, submitted April 16, 2021, and seeking $20,833, was approved. Walls falsely claimed she was self-employed and had a gross annual income of $151,104. She successfully submitted a fraudulent loan forgiveness application on Aug. 14, 2021.

In September of 2021, Walls submitted fraudulent applications to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, a Small Business Administration program intended to help struggling business owners during the pandemic. Walls again falsely claimed the $15,000 she received would go to Barbie Factory payroll and other businesses expenses.

Walls pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of wire fraud.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.

Anyone with information about pandemic fraud should call the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.