Boston man sentenced to 5 months in prison for COVID relief fraud

A Boston man was sentenced last week on fraud and false statements charges as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in March 2020.

Antawn Davis, 40, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick to five months in prison and two years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements in June. He will also have to pay $49,999 in restitution and forfeiture. 

Davis was taken into custody in February as part of a mass arrest of over 40 members and associates of the Heath Street Gang for alleged crimes that included racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, firearms, wire fraud, and financial fraud, including COVID-related fraud. The gang, which has been around since the 1980s, primarily operates out of the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments, a public housing development in Jamaica Plain.  

During April and May 2021, Davis submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications for his purported business. His applications included false statements, including the alleged business’s total gross income for 2020 and the purpose of the loan, as well as false tax records. He spent the $49,999 he received in PPP loans on non-business-related expenses, including at a casino and at Saks Fifth Avenue. 

The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation, which aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Hoefle and Lucy Sun of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit. It’s also the result of work by the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established in May 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.