Mount Vernon Mother & Daughter Face Federal Charges In Covid Scam

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Three defendants, including a mother and daughter from Mount Vernon, have been charged in connection with a $1.6 million Covid-19 fraud scheme. Alicia Ayers, Andrea Ayers, and Traci Proctor were arrested for submitting more than 300 applications for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loans. All three women were arrested Tuesday.

“As alleged, the defendants schemed to defraud the SBA by submitting disaster loan and grant applications for non-existent businesses,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement announcing the arrests. “In so doing, they stole funds intended for the many small businesses that are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank the FBI and SBA-OIG for their partnership in investigating the scheme alleged.”

The three defendants have each been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, false statements and aggravated identity theft in indictments unsealed today. Alicia Ayers, age 34 and her mother, 54-year-old Andrea Ayers, will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York White Plains division.

Prosecutors say the scam was especially distressing because the SBA was quick to advance as much as $10,000 in pandemic-related funds to businesses while applications were pending. Although the policy was a godsend to many struggling small businesses, it also made the program a much easier mark for would-be fraudsters.

The defendants in this case are accused of falsifying identities in order to fraudulently receive advances on coronavirus relief loans. By the time SBA officials took a closer look and eventually rejected the loans, the damage was, in many cases, already done.