SPOKANE, Wash. – An Arkansas man was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $16 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
According to court documents and information presented at the hearing, between June 2020 and May 2022, Tyler Andrews, 39, a resident of Arkansas, directed and facilitated the submission of numerous fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications on behalf of his co-conspirators, including individuals in the Eastern District of Washington. Andrews charged his co-conspirators a fee, typically 10% of the loan amount, to be paid after the funds were received. In total, Andrews helped his co-conspirators obtain at least $13,449,179 in EIDL funding.
Court documents also revealed that Andrews submitted multiple false and fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and EIDL applications on behalf of his own businesses, including Andrews Associates, Inc., Texas Oil and Gas Express, Inc., Total Logistic Solutions, and several others. In these applications, Andrews misrepresented key information such as business status, payroll, number of employees, and revenue to secure EIDL and PPP funds. Andrews obtained at least $3,253,541 in PPP and EIDL funding for his businesses. Additionally, his company, TE Andrews Holdings, LLC, received an extra $1,232,000 through Small Business Administration loan programs.
After initially being released pending trial following his indictment and arrest, Andrews was arrested again in July 2023. He was indicted by a grand jury in the Western District of Arkansas for passport fraud and aggravated identity theft for attempting to fraudulently obtain a passport using false information in what appeared to be an attempt to flee the United States.
On Thursday, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Andrews to 196 months in federal prison, along with three years of supervised release, restitution of $16,330,814 to the Small Business Administration, and the forfeiture of $4,300,474.
“Mr. Andrews developed a fraudulent scheme to assist and advise others on how to lie and cheat to obtain millions in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds – funds that were meant to help small and local businesses struggling during a global crisis,” said U.S. Attorney Waldref. “He then took a percentage off the top of the more than $13 million fraudulently obtained through his scheme. I am proud of the work of my office’s COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force. Our skilled prosecutors and law enforcement partners will continue to be relentless in tracking down fraudsters and holding them accountable.”
