A delivery service provides fast, often same-day delivery, within a particular area. They pickup one or more local products from a local merchant and deliver the local products to a customer. Often, the delivery service is specialized, such as delivering food, or legal documents. RMR Delivery Service prided themselves in same day services, specifically delivery of money from the U.S. taxpayers’ pocket to RMR’s own personal bank account. Because RMR specialized in fraud.
Mark William Bailey was the sole owner and president of RMR Delivery Service Inc. when he obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for $150,000 on July 10, 2020. The company has reported itself as a male owned business and employed at least thirteen people during the applicable loan period. But Bailey must have realized it was easier to take government money than it was to do same day deliveries. Bailey sought two modifications of his EIDL, increasing the loan amount first to $500,000 and then to $2 million.
To obtain each modification, Bailey certified that RMR Delivery Service Inc. would use all loan proceeds solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic. After all, money received from the EIDL program is only able to be used for specific business-related expenses that would have been able to be paid if the COVID-19 pandemic had not happened. About $100,000 did go to business-related expenses. But the remaining $403,768.04 of the EIDL proceeds went to the purchase of a luxury car and a garage to house it.
In addition, Baily applied for and received a $110,032 loan through the Paycheck Protection Program around April 2020. Loans from the PPP were intended for job retention and other expenses related to small businesses. Thirteen employees, remember? They didn’t get paid much it turns out. Bailey acknowledged using $47,469.47 to pay his mortgage.
Shout out to the COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Team.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Beckley man pleads guilty to COVID-19 relief fraud” published by Nexstar Media on September 10, 2023
50 year old Mark William Bailey pleaded guilty to theft of government money. He revealed that he stole approximately $451,237.51 in COVID-19 relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to information found in court documents and statements, on July 10, 2020, Bailey was the sole owner and president of RMR Delivery Service Inc. when he received an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for $150,000. The CARES Act made the EIDL program for small businesses that were eligible due to major financial disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
