Andrew Hollins Imprisoned Following Guilty Pleas to Pandemic Fraud And Narcotics Indictments

Burlington, Vermont - The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that Andrew Hollins, who has also been known as Andrew Jones, 38, of Colchester, Vermont and New York City, was sentenced on January 31, 2024 in United States District Court in Burlington to 62 months of imprisonment following his guilty pleas to two separate indictments charging him with narcotics trafficking, wire fraud and money laundering. Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss ordered that Hollins serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and pay restitution in the amount of $33,000. The court ordered that Hollins’ federal sentence run concurrently with a 2 to 4-year sentence Hollins is currently serving in New York State on two gun charges.

In December 2022, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment alleging that Hollins distributed cocaine on three dates in late 2019. At the same time, the grand jury returned a separate indictment charging Hollins with fraud, money laundering and identity theft in connection with a series of pandemic-related Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) applications he submitted to the U.S. Small Business Administration in July and August 2020. Under the EIDL loan program, the SBA provides low-interest loans to businesses and persons that have suffered financial hardship because of a natural disaster, such as the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to the indictment, Hollins applied for eight EIDL loans in mid-2020 in his own name, in the names of two shell businesses he founded, in the names of two relatives and in the names of three persons whose identities Hollins stole. Some of the loans were funded by SBA, while others were rejected. The applications were fraudulent because they contained materially false statements about when the businesses were established, about the companies’ gross receipts in the preceding year, about the number of employees each business had and the physical location of the businesses. The SBA rejected most of the loan applications because it suspected fraud. However, two loans were funded, or partially funded, in the amount of $33,000.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations.

Hollins is represented by Federal Public Defender Michael Desautels. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.