ABOVE: Andrea Ayers of Mount Vernon (center) leaves the federal courthouse in White Plains afer being sentenced on Aril 26, 2024. At right is her attorney Royce Russell. PHOTO: Mark Vergari/Journal News.
‘Prosecutors countered that the brazenness and greed evident in the scheme spoke to the need for a sentence that would deter others from defrauding government assistance programs.’
By Jonathan Bandler | Westchester Journal-News
A former civilian employee of the Mount Vernon Police Department and her daughter had their bids for leniency rejected Friday as they were sentenced to prison terms in a Covid-19 relief fraud that cost the U.S. Small Business Administration nearly $1.7 million.
U.S. District Judge Nelson Roman sentenced Andrea Ayers, who was also head of the city’s CSEA union, to 3 1/2 years in prison. Her daughter, Alicia Ayers, a financial adviser and accountant, got a prison term of two years and then six months home confinement after that.
The two women, both of Mount Vernon, submitted hundreds of fraudulent applications to the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program seeking $10,000 grants for friends, relatives and colleagues and got kickbacks when the money was paid out.
They falsely claimed the applicants owned qualifying businesses with at least 10 employees when almost none of them had any businesses.
“These defendants stole from a taxpayer-funded program intended to help small businesses that were in desperate need of assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
“As their convictions and sentences reflect, my Office is determined to continue to work to bring to justice those who exploit and defraud government programs during a national emergency.”
Pair had requested home confinement
Mother and daughter were arrested in March 2021, indicted four months later and pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements. They requested home confinement while prosecutors wanted between 5 1/3 and 6 1/2 years in prison.
Over a three-week period in early summer 2020, the two submitted 315 applications for the maximum grants using people’s pedigree and bank information and made up revenue figures for their “businesses.”
If all had been approved, it would have cost the SBA more than $3.1 million. When recipients got their $10,000, they were generally directed to send $3,000 to the Ayerses
Daughter Alicia Ayers, also leaving federal courthouse in White Plains after sentencing. PHOTO: Mark Vergari/Journal News
Court documents did not reveal how much money the defendants actually collected in kickbacks, but if they received that amount from the more than 165 successful applications, that would have amounted to about $500,000.
As part of their guilty pleas they each agreed to forfeit $1.69 million. Roman also ordered each to pay that amount in restitution to the SBA. He gave them until Aug. 2 to report to prison.
The defendants never asked the applicants for details about their businesses because they knew they didn’t have any, or they were sole proprietors with nowhere near 10 employees.
They also never told the people they were using their information to submit fraudulent applications.
The applicants were frequently misled into thinking they qualified as homeowners or renters, prosecutors said in court documents.
The two were assisted in soliciting candidates and submitting applications by a friend, Traci Proctor, who was also arrested with the Ayerses but not subsequently indicted.
She also pleaded guilty but has not yet been sentenced.
Well-known in Mount Vernon
Andrea Ayers, a Mount Vernon employee from 2013 through March 2023, worked as a code enforcement officer for the police department and had a catering business, Annie’s Dream Cuisine.
Alicia Ayers, who also lived in Stamford, ran ANA Financial Services. The same week she and her mother began the EIDL scam, she was a featured presenter on Mount Vernon’s Financial Freedom webinar series.
In court documents, defense lawyers cited family responsibilities, lack of criminal record and the defendants’ remorse for why they should be spared prison time.
But prosecutors countered that the brazenness and greed evident in the scheme spoke to the need for a sentence that would deter others from defrauding government assistance programs.
They also let Roman know that neither woman had repaid any of the money yet and also failed to complete financial forms requested by probation to help ascertain their assets.
Probation had recommended a prison term of 5 1/3 years, the low end of the sentencing guideline the judge had to consider.
A larger scheme that was going on in Mount Vernon at the same time resulted in the conviction of brothers Quadri and Anwar Salahuddin and their friend, city native Jacob Carter.
They cheated the SBA out of nearly $8 million after submitting more than 1,000 false applications. They likely pocketed between $2 million and $3 million.
They are scheduled for sentencing next month. ##