Feds Charge Atlanta Man for Allegedly Applying for Over $3,390,000 in Fraudulent Small Business Loans During COVID

US authorities arrested an Atlanta man this week on charges related to his alleged connection to a COVID-19 relief loan application fraud ring.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that Ian Patrick Jackson, 37, conspired with another Atlanta man to recruit at least nine business owners to submit fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications using fake tax documents.

Jackson allegedly told the business owners to falsely claim they each employed 16 individuals and paid monthly wages of $120,000. The DOJ says the owners then wrote falsified payroll checks to people who didn’t work for them and then either kept the money for themselves or paid Jackson via his co-conspirator.

Jackson is allegedly connected to 15 fraudulent COVID-19 relief loan applications that inked $3.39 million in proceeds. He’s the 12th person to be charged in connection with an Atlanta-based PPP fraud ring, with the 11 previous defendants having already pled guilty or been convicted at trial. The DOJ says authorities have recovered nearly $1.2 million of the defrauded funds.

Jackson also allegedly applied for a separate $237,500 PPP loan using fabricated tax forms and used a forged driver’s license and false revenue statements to fraudulently apply for approximately $100,000 in PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program loans. The DOJ also says he fraudulently secured another $240,035 PPP loan and $125,000 in EIDL program loans and grants on behalf of another company.

Jackson has been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, two counts of bank fraud, two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. The charges could result in decades in prison.

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