Source: United States Department of Justice (National Center for Disaster Fraud)
CHICAGO – A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted three individuals for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million in small business loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act.
TANIKA ECHOLS, ANTONIO ECHOLS, and TAMIA THOMPSON DAVIS engaged in fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL)–two sources of relief under the CARES Act, according to an indictment returned in the Northern District of Illinois. The indictment charges Tanika Echols, 45, of Austin, Texas, and formerly of South Holland, Ill., with 13 counts of wire fraud and seven counts of money laundering. Antonio Echols, 50, of Austin, Texas, and formerly of South Holland, Ill., who is Tanika Echols’s husband, is charged with three counts of wire fraud, while Davis, 27, of Austin, Texas, who is Tanika Echols’s daughter, is charged with four counts of wire fraud.
The indictment alleges that the defendants defrauded lenders of approximately $1.7 million in PPP loans and defrauded the SBA of approximately $307,000 in EIDL funds. Much of the money was used for the defendants’ personal benefit, including the purchase of mink coats from Andriana Furs in Chicago, the indictment states.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges during their arraignments last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 13, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Basil Demczak, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Central Region of Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General, and Mark Reeves, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board’s Office of Inspector General. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner.
Pursuant to the CARES Act, a PPP loan allowed the interest and principal to be forgiven if businesses spent a certain amount of the proceeds on essential expenses, such as payroll, rent, and utilities, while the EIDL program provided loan assistance or grants to cover working capital and other operating expenses.
According to the indictment, the defendants from 2020 to 2022 submitted more than 100 fraudulent applications to lenders, loan service providers, and the Small Business Administration, on behalf of themselves, seven other individuals, and two businesses owned by Tanika Echols and Antonio Echols. The applications and supporting documents contained materially false statements and misrepresentations about the defendants’ companies, including the number of purported employees, revenue and payroll amounts, and other expenses, the indictment states.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Each wire fraud charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, while the maximum penalty for each count of money laundering is ten years. If convicted, the Court must impose reasonable sentences under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Anyone with information about attempted fraud involving Covid-19 is encouraged to report it to the Department of Justice by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or filing an online complaint at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.