Gavel in Courtroom III

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A man from Phenix City has been sentenced to 92 months in prison following his conviction for wire fraud and money laundering in a case involving the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. 

Kyle Nathan Carlisle, 39, will be on supervised release for three years after his sentence is up, said an announcement from Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson on Monday.

The CARES Act and the EIDL program were created to assist small business owners who were impacted by the COVID pandemic in recent years. 

"According to his plea agreement and other court records, between July 2020 and April 2021, Carlisle applied for 23 EIDL loans online, many of which were duplicates," said the announcement.

"Five of the loans were ultimately funded. Carlisle made multiple false statements and misrepresentations in his applications, including the businesses’ revenue, the number of employees, and that he had no felony convictions in the last five years."

The announcement noted that Carlisle had two previous felony convictions in Russell County. He reportedly confessed to forging documents with the applications that included fake or altered business licenses. 

As a result, $3,470,832 was taken and used for personal, unauthorized expenses. 

Carlisle was ordered to pay the Small Business Administration $547,846.54 and forfeit the same amount to the U.S. government. 

“Kyle Carlisle fabricated lies and forged documents in a scheme to divert taxpayer money for his own self-enrichment,” said Davidson. “The EIDL program was intended to provide relief to actual struggling businesses during a pandemic that created an enormous economic burden on the entire country. My office remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue those who engage in activities that threaten the integrity of government programs.”

Anyone who suspects another of fraud involving COVID loans is asked to report to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

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