On Wednesday, a Columbus man and a Clarksdale woman were convicted of applying for and receiving a fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ramirez Ivy, a former West Point officer and Columbus native, and Felicia Smith, of Clarksdale, conspired with Lekeith Faulkner, Norman Beckwood, and others to each receive $200,000 from the SBA based on fraudulent loan applications. The applications contained fictitious documents claiming business revenue that did not exist.
During a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, Ivy and Smith were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to the fraudulent applications, along with one count each of aiding and abetting wire fraud.
Faulkner, a former SBA employee, and Beckwood both entered pleas of guilty on separate dates to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The two each received a sentence of 62 months in prison with five years of supervised release. Both Faulkner and Beckwood were ordered to pay $10,620,452.26 in restitution to the SBA. Beckwood also forfeited $700,147.74, a 2018 Mercedes Benz C Class, and a 2020 Mercedes G63.
The scheme was uncovered during a civil investigation led by the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Harland Webster. 30 other individual borrowers have also been charged in the same scheme.
