Florida woman pleads guilty in Paycheck Protection Program fraud conspiracy
Ashley Spike, 32, admitted to creating fake tax forms to support fraudulent pandemic loan applications, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston. She is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
BOSTON — A Florida woman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to taking part in a scheme to get Paycheck Protection Program loans for herself and others through fraudulent applications, the U.S. attorney's office for Massachusetts said Tuesday.
Ashley Spike, 32, pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for Feb. 10, 2027. Spike was charged in February.
According to prosecutors, Spike created fake tax forms to back up applications in which borrowers falsely claimed to run businesses that qualified for the pandemic relief loans. She personally received two loans totaling $49,999 through the scheme, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said lenders issued more than $4.8 million in loans to unqualified borrowers as a result of the alleged fraud by Spike and others, which the office described as a multistate scheme.
Two co-conspirators, Tanya Pierre and Lisa Lemoine, have also pleaded guilty, according to the office. Lemoine pleaded guilty in May and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13, 2027. Pierre pleaded guilty in August and is scheduled to be sentenced May 12, 2027.
Prosecutors also allege that Sniders Jean-Jacques and Lorne Johnson took part in the conspiracy. Those are allegations, and the two men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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