On Tuesday, Cincinnati Democrat Mayoral candidate Kelli Prather was charged in a Covid-19 fraud case and faces more than 30 years in prison.
Kelli Prather, 48 is accused of applying the Payment Protection Program (PPP) by applying for loans for six different businesses that she claimed she owned: Enhanced Healthcare Solutions, Life Skills Enhancement, Prather Property Management, Reliable Ambulette Services, Rich Glo Management Services and Tots R Us.
PPP is a loan designed to provide an incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.
Prather was seeking more than $600,000 in fraud relief but received around $19,800 the criminal complaint says.
The bank found errors in Prather’s loan applications, according to the complaint, and identified six different pending applications.
A review of her bank accounts showed disbursement of PPP loan funds were inconsistent with legitimate business-related activity, the complaint read.
“Instead, review of Prather’s banking activity indicated money was either being pocketed by Prather or funding expenses that appear to be personal in nature such as salon and restaurant visits,” the court documents state.
According to court documents, Prather spent $8,000 on personal items and eating out at restaurants and gave another $8,000 to a boyfriend.
The FBI got tipped off by Fifth Third Bank after they found discrepancies in Prather’s loan applications.
Through research, the FBI found that none of Prather’s businesses were operational.
Prather was hit with five counts according to Cincinnati Enquirer
• Making false statements to a federal agency
• Aggravated identify theft
• Bank fraud
• Unauthorized disclosure of a social security number
• Making false statements in loan and credit applications,
And also facing following charges according to the U.S. attorney’s office,
• Bank fraud
• Committing fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits
• Wire fraud
• Making false statements
• Making false statements in connection to credit or loan applications
• False representation of a social security number
Prather submitted three petitions each with 900 to 1,000 signatures. Each time the board of elections staff found less than 500 signatures, the Enquirer reported on March 12.
The U.S. attorney’s office also added three other people, Toni Wright of Cincinnati, Melissa McGhee of Cincinnati, and Jon Alan Bader of Dayton, were charged with defrauding COVID-19 pandemic relief funding programs.
Sources: FOX 19, THE GATEWAY PUNDIT, DAVID HARRIS JR.