SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Bentonville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding taxpayers of $16.5 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and other government relief programsmeant to help struggling businesses survive the covid-19 pandemic, court records show.
Tyler Keith Penix, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud punishable by up to 20 years in prison in federal court in Spokane, Wash., where other suspects in the conspiracy operated, according to an announcement from Vanessa R. Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. Sentencing is set for 10 a.m. on Jan. 11 in Spokane.
The main work was done by a task force set up in Washington state to track down covid-related fraud with the assistance of other federal agencies, Waldref's statement said.
Penix, who was arrested by the FBI on Feb. 9 in Tulsa, did business under the name of Tyler Keith Andrews during the fraud, according to court records. His company, Andrews Associates Inc., claimed to offer consulting services and some financial services for business clients in both Arkansas and Colorado, according to his guilty plea and indictment.
Federal covid relief programs for business "quickly ran out of money due to the number of businesses that requested funding, meaning that struggling, deserving small businesses were not able to obtain critically needed funding to keep their businesses afloat during the shutdowns and disruptions caused by the covid pandemic," Waldref's...
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