Tyler Andrews could be described as a serial entrepreneur. He was the owner of Texas Oil and Gas Express, Inc., Total Logistic Solutions, Andrews Associates, and several other companies. All of which fell under the control of his name’s sake holding company, TE Andrews Holdings, LLC. Court documents revealed that Andrews submitted multiple false and fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) applications on behalf of his own businesses. In these applications, Andrews misrepresented key information such as business status, payroll, number of employees, and revenue to secure the maximum funds available to EIDL and PPP loans. Andrews fraudulently obtained almost a half a million dollars in PPP and EIDL funding for his various businesses. And he was good at committing fraud. So good that he proceeded to offer his knowledge to others.
Andrews developed a scheme to assist and advise others on how to lie and cheat the system in order to obtain millions in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. Just like him. But for a fee. For every dollar that was fraudulently obtained for others, Andrews took about 10% off the top. Andrews obtained more than $13 million in fraudulently obtained COVID-19 pandemic relief funds for these other co-conspirators.
After initially being released pending trial following his indictment and arrest, Andrews was arrested again in July 2023 while attempting to obtain a passport using a false information in what appeared to be an attempt to flee the United States.
On December 5, 2024, Andres was sentenced to sixteen years in prison, along with three years of supervised release, pay restitution of $16,330,814 to the Small Business Administration, and the forfeiture of $4,300,474.
Excellent job by the COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Arkansas man sentenced to 16+ years for COVID-19 relief fund fraud scheme” published by Nonstop KHQ News on December 5, 2024.
An Arkansas man was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $16 million in COVID-19 relief funds. According to court documents and information presented at the hearing, between June 2020 and May 2022, Tyler Andrews, 39, a resident of Arkansas, directed and facilitated the submission of numerous fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications on behalf of his co-conspirators, including individuals in the Eastern District of Washington.
Andrews charged his co-conspirators a fee, typically 10% of the loan amount, to be paid after the funds were received. In total, Andrews helped his co-conspirators obtain at least $13,449,179 in EIDL funding.
