Baltimore woman pleads guilty to COVID fraud

BUFFALO, N.Y. — U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Nina M. Williams, 56, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge William, M. Skretny to wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  

According to court documents, Williams transmitted two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of Nimiche Inc. and Nimiche Interiors Inc., a Maryland-based business, along with fraudulent supporting documentation, to a federally insured bank in Buffalo, NY, and a mortgage lending business, which  participated as lenders in the PPP loan program. In May 2020, Williams electronically submitted a PPP loan application to the bank for $97,500, and in April 2021, she electronically submitted a PPP loan application to the mortgage lending business for $432,960.

Williams falsely claimed that Nimiche Inc. and Nimiche Interiors Inc. had between four and 25 employees and average monthly payrolls of, respectively, $39,000 to $173,185. Williams falsely stated that the loan funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or other proscribed uses under the PPP loan rules. This resulted in the bank issuing $97,500 into Nimiche Inc.’s business account controlled by Williams. However, the funds were not used for business-related expenses. Instead, Williams used some of the funds towards the purchase of real property in Maryland. In addition, the mortgage lending business issued loan proceeds totaling $432,960, into Nimiche Inc.’s business account controlled Williams. Once again, the funds were not used for business-related expenses.

During the May 2020, through May 2021 time period, Williams worked with others to submit at least five additional fraudulent PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loan applications to the mortgage lending business and another bank. In total, based on the materially false and fraudulent representations contained in the application materials, Williams intended to fraudulently obtain a total of approximately $2.6 million in PPP and EIDL funds, and in fact fraudulently obtained approximately $1.5 million in PPP and EIDL funds.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Boston Division, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Corwin Rattler. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly and Trial Attorney Jennifer Bilinkas of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 18, 2024, before Judge Skretny.

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