York County Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Make False Statements to a Bank

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Brandi McCoy, 48, of York County, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for conspiracy to make false statements to a bank.

Evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that McCoy operated a daycare in South Carolina. Between June 2020 and April 2022, McCoy and others conspired to make false statements to banks to secure loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and avoid repayment. After loan money was received, McCoy falsified more information to request forgiveness and avoid repayment of the money. These false statements included greatly inflated numbers related to the size of the staff employed at the daycare and the amount of salary paid by the daycare. McCoy also made false statements concerning the amount of expenses paid by the daycare. As a result of the misstatements, over $1 million in loans were approved.

United States District Senior Court Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. sentenced Brandi to 15 months imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system. McCoy was also ordered to pay restitution to the Small Business Administration.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department's response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

This case was investigated by United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Potterfield is prosecuting the case.