A businessman pocketing U.S. currency money, the dollar bills into his suit pocket.
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A Louisiana man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering related to a fraudulent scheme involving Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program loans.
The Scheme
According to court documents, Michael Ansezell Tolliver submitted nine fraudulent PPP and EIDL Program loan applications for several purported companies that Tolliver owned, including Tolliver Oil & Gas Corporation of Louisiana Inc. and Tolliver Petroleum Corporation of Louisiana.
In his PPP application, Tolliver certified that the funds would be used “to retain workers and maintain payroll.” Tolliver falsely represented that the company had 108 employees and that its average monthly payroll was $265,889.60—he also submitted a fake IRS Form 940. The truth, however, was that Tolliver Oil & Gas had no employees or monthly payroll expenses.
The Take
According to prosecutors, Tolliver had sought more than $7.6 million in PPP and EIDL Program loans. In the end, he obtained more than $1.1 million.
“Mr. Tolliver chose greed over compassion by fraudulently obtaining funds from the PPP and EIDL programs established to assist employers severely impacted by the pandemic,” said Special Agent in Charge James E. Dorsey of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Atlanta Field Office. “Tolliver’s sentence today should stand as a warning to those who fraudulently received or may have attempted to fraudulently receive funds intended to help businesses during the COVID epidemic.” The IRS-CI and SBA investigated the case.
The Charges
Tolliver was initially charged with two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. In December 2022, Tolliver pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. On May 2, 2023, Tolliver was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,114,724 in restitution.
“The significant sentence handed down today demonstrates that those who steal from COVID-19 relief programs for personal gain will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “We remain committed to rooting out bad actors who took advantage of federal programs meant to help those small businesses truly in need.”
How He Spent The Money
Tolliver laundered loan proceeds by transferring the funds to personal bank accounts and purchasing luxury goods. Authorities seized approximately $128,500 from bank accounts, as well as a 2020 Cadillac CT5 sedan, a 2021 GMC Sierra 1500 truck, two Tissot watches, two Tag Heuer watches, and three Honda all-terrain vehicles.
“This defendant stole over $1 million through fraudulent means and used those funds to support his own personal lifestyle, taking from those whose legitimate businesses were suffering from losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown for the Western District of Louisiana. “Federal programs such as these are set up to help those in need, not to benefit fraudsters. It is a priority for our office to prosecute those who obtain these benefits illegally. We look forward to continued collaboration with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in aggressively investigating similar crimes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Reporting Fraud
Since the inception of the CARES Act, the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice has prosecuted over 200 defendants in more than 130 criminal cases and has seized over $78 million in cash proceeds, numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds.
IRS-CI and law enforcement often rely on taxpayer tips to begin and bolster investigations. If you have information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19, you can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866‑720‑5721 or using the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
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