Attorney Fails to Shake Conviction in Covid Loan Fraud Case

An attorney convicted of creating sham businesses to fraudulently apply for Covid-19 small business relief loans was properly convicted and sentenced to 75 months in prison, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed Wednesday.

Shaquandra Woods, who pleaded not guilty and was convicted by a jury, appealed her conviction and sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, alleging the government’s trial evidence proved multiple separate conspiracies, not the single conspiracy charged in her indictment. The US connected Woods to eleven fraudulent loan applications for sham businesses owned by her friends, relatives, and herself.

Based on her scheme’s common goal and overlapping participants, a ...