Boise EIDL Loan Fraud Lawyers

Boise EIDL Loan Fraud Lawyers

You applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan in March or April 2020 when COVID-19 shutdowns devastated your business revenue. The SBA application asked for your 2019 gross revenues and cost of goods sold – you estimated from memory because you didn’t have your tax returns immediately available, you calculated as best you could from bank statements, you submitted the application, and the SBA approved your loan. Maybe $150,000, maybe $500,000. You used the money to pay rent during months when revenue was zero, to cover utility bills and insurance premiums, to keep the business alive. But now, three or four years later, federal investigators are questioning your application. They compared your stated revenues to your 2019 tax return and found discrepancies. The SBA sent a letter demanding documentation. An FBI agent called asking to schedule an interview. Or you received a target letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho informing you that you’re under criminal investigation for EIDL fraud. The fear is paralyzing – you never intended to commit fraud, you were just trying to save your business during an unprecedented crisis, but now you’re facing federal criminal charges that could send you to prison for years.

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation criminal defense firm with over 40 years of combined experience defending federal fraud prosecutions nationwide, managed by Todd Spodek. In Boise, federal prosecutors in the District of Idaho have aggressively pursued EIDL fraud cases since 2023, treating pandemic disaster loan applications like criminal fraud schemes and seeking prison sentences even for first-time offenders with no prior criminal history. These prosecutions don’t distinguish between sophisticated fraud rings and desperate business owners who made honest errors under impossible circumstances. If you’re under investigation or have been charged with EIDL fraud, you need defense counsel who understand both the SBA regulations and the constitutional principles that limit prosecutorial power.

Recent EIDL Fraud Prosecutions in Boise

In February 2024, Amanda Davis was sentenced in the District of Idaho to 25 months in prison and ordered to pay $$445,000 in restitution. Davis submitted EIDL applications with inflated gross revenue figures for retail businesses in Boise. Used loan proceeds for personal expenses including luxury travel, jewelry, and home renovations. Minimal cooperation and lack of remorse led to mid-range sentence within guidelines with full restitution order. The prosecution focused on the difference between stated revenues on the EIDL application and reported revenues on tax returns, treating that discrepancy as proof of criminal fraud. But revenue calculations are complex – they depend on accounting methods, timing of receipts, treatment of returns and allowances, and dozens of other factors. A discrepancy between an application completed hastily during a pandemic emergency and a tax return prepared months later by an accountant doesn’t automatically prove criminal intent. Yet prosecutors in Boise treat any difference as evidence of deliberate fraud.

Then James Anderson. In April 2024, 18 months in prison, 3 years supervised release after pleading guilty to EIDL fraud involving $$325,000. Anderson overstated 2019 revenues on EIDL application. First-time offender with no criminal history, strong community ties, and full cooperation received more lenient sentence with extended supervised release and restitution plan approved by the court. The case likely followed the standard pattern – investigators compared the EIDL application to tax returns, found discrepancies, assumed criminal intent, and charged federal crimes. Anderson probably had no prior criminal record and never intended to commit fraud but pleaded guilty under the enormous pressure of federal prosecution. The alternative – going to trial and risking decades in prison if convicted – was too terrifying to consider.

These prosecutions demonstrate what’s at stake if you’re under investigation for EIDL fraud in Boise. Prosecutors don’t need evidence of sophisticated criminal schemes – they charge cases based solely on discrepancies between loan applications and tax returns. Defense lawyers without federal fraud experience advise clients to plead guilty and hope for leniency. Judges impose guideline sentences based on the loan amount plus mandatory restitution.

The Criminal Statutes Prosecutors Use Against EIDL Borrowers

The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program was created by the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to businesses suffering economic injury from disasters. When COVID-19 was declared a national emergency in March 2020, the SBA expanded EIDL to cover pandemic-related economic injury. Borrowers applied online, stating their 2019 gross revenues and cost of goods sold. The SBA calculated loan amounts based on those figures – typically up to six months of economic injury up to a maximum of $500,000, later increased to $2 million. If you violated program requirements, the SBA could demand repayment – that’s a civil remedy. But if prosecutors believe you lied about revenues, they charge federal crimes: bank fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001). Each carries decades in prison.

Bank fraud under § 1344 carries up to 30 years in prison and applies when you execute or attempt to execute a scheme to defraud a financial institution or obtain money from a financial institution by false pretenses. For EIDL loans, prosecutors argue the SBA is a “financial institution” under the statute. If you inflated gross revenues on your EIDL application, that’s bank fraud according to the government’s theory. The 30-year maximum sentence gives prosecutors enormous leverage to force guilty pleas – they threaten decades in prison, then offer plea agreements with recommendations in the 18-36 month range.

Wire fraud under § 1343 carries up to 20 years in prison, 30 years if it affects a financial institution. Every electronic communication related to your loan – submitting the application online, emailing documents, receiving the loan proceeds via electronic transfer – can support a separate wire fraud count. If you submitted your EIDL application through the SBA website, that’s wire fraud. If the loan proceeds were deposited to your bank account electronically, that’s wire fraud. Prosecutors stack these counts to create multiple charges from a single loan application.

Intent Is What Separates Fraud From Mistakes

False statements under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 criminalize knowingly making false statements to federal agencies. Each misrepresentation on your EIDL application is potentially a separate count carrying up to five years in prison. But here’s the critical element prosecutors often can’t prove – the statute requires that you acted “knowingly.” You must have known your statement was false when you made it, and you must have intended to deceive the SBA. If you made a good-faith estimate of revenues because you didn’t have exact figures available, that’s not a knowing false statement. If you calculated revenues differently than how they appear on your tax return but believed your calculation was accurate, that’s not a knowing false statement. If you misunderstood what “gross revenues” meant and included figures that shouldn’t have been included, that’s an honest mistake, not a crime. The government must prove criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt.

Why Revenue Discrepancies Don’t Prove Criminal Fraud

The EIDL application asked for “gross revenues” for the twelve months ending January 31, 2020. What does “gross revenues” mean? Does it include returned merchandise? Refunds to customers? Sales tax collected? Non-operating income? The application didn’t define the term, and different accountants calculate revenues differently. If you stated $500,000 in gross revenues on your application but your 2019 tax return shows $450,000 in gross receipts, does that prove you lied? Or does it prove you used a different calculation method, or included revenue from late 2019 that your accountant classified differently, or made an honest mistake under pandemic pressure?

Prosecutors treat any discrepancy as evidence of fraud, but discrepancies can result from numerous non-criminal causes. Maybe you completed the application from memory without having your tax return available. Maybe you included projections for January 2020 that didn’t materialize. Maybe you misunderstood the date range and included some 2020 revenue. Maybe your accountant used accrual method accounting on your tax return but you calculated revenues on a cash basis. None of these scenarios involve criminal intent, yet prosecutors charge them as fraud.

The SBA Approved Your Loan

Many defendants ask: “If I committed fraud, why did the SBA approve my loan?” That’s a fair question. The SBA approved your application based on the information you provided, which suggests it was at least facially reasonable. If your stated revenues were obviously fraudulent – if you claimed $5 million in revenues for a one-person consulting business – the SBA likely would have flagged it for review. The fact that your loan was approved without additional inquiry suggests your application was plausible. SBA approval doesn’t constitute a complete legal defense to fraud charges, but it’s relevant to intent and sentencing. If the SBA reviewed your application and approved it without requesting documentation, that undermines the government’s claim that your fraud was obvious.

Federal Sentencing and Lifelong Restitution

If you plead guilty or are convicted at trial, your sentence is calculated under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines based primarily on the loss amount – the EIDL loan amount you received. A $200,000 loan produces a base offense level that translates to 24-30 months in prison before adjustments. A $500,000 loan produces 33-41 months. Add enhancements for sophisticated means or multiple participants, and sentences increase further. If you have no criminal history and accept responsibility by pleading guilty early, you might receive a below-guidelines sentence or probation, but only if your lawyer presents compelling mitigation evidence.

The trial penalty looms over every federal case. Defendants who plead guilty receive a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, which can reduce a 30-month sentence to 18 months. Defendants who go to trial and are convicted forfeit that reduction. Additionally, prosecutors recommend low-end sentences for defendants who plead guilty but recommend high-end or above-guidelines sentences for defendants who exercise their right to trial. The difference is typically 50-100% – defendants who go to trial receive sentences double what they’d have received by pleading guilty.

Restitution is mandatory. You’ll be ordered to repay the full EIDL loan amount regardless of whether you spent it on legitimate business expenses or personal expenses, regardless of whether your business survived or failed. That restitution obligation doesn’t disappear. It survives bankruptcy. The government will enforce it through wage garnishments, tax refund seizures, and property liens for decades. You’ll pay a percentage of every paycheck to the government for the rest of your working life.

Constitutional Protections That Constrain Federal Prosecutors

The Fifth Amendment’s due process clause requires that criminal statutes provide fair notice of prohibited conduct. When the EIDL application and SBA guidance were vague or ambiguous – as they often were during the emergency program rollout – that ambiguity must be construed in your favor under the rule of lenity. If reasonable business owners could interpret “gross revenues” differently, or disagree about what figures to include, then prosecuting you for choosing one reasonable interpretation over another violates due process.

Your Sixth Amendment right to counsel means you’re entitled to effective assistance from a lawyer who understands federal fraud defense. If your attorney doesn’t know the sentencing guidelines, doesn’t understand the intent requirement for fraud charges, doesn’t investigate whether the EIDL regulations were ambiguous – that’s ineffective assistance. The time to secure competent federal defense counsel is now, before charges are filed, when there’s still opportunity to avoid indictment by presenting your side to prosecutors.

What to Do Immediately

Don’t talk to federal investigators without a lawyer present. If an FBI agent, SBA investigator, or IRS criminal division agent contacts you, say only: “I need to speak with my attorney before discussing this.” Then end the conversation immediately. Don’t try to explain your situation, don’t try to cooperate, don’t believe promises that cooperation will help you. Federal agents are skilled at eliciting incriminating statements during voluntary interviews. Anything you say will be memorialized in a report and used against you at trial.

Don’t create new documents or destroy existing documents. If you’re worried that your records don’t support the revenue figure you stated on your EIDL application, don’t “correct” them now. Creating false documents after an investigation begins is obstruction of justice, a separate federal felony carrying up to 20 years in prison. And don’t destroy documents either – that’s also obstruction, and prosecutors will use it to argue consciousness of guilt. Preserve everything – bank statements, tax returns, accounting records, emails, the EIDL application, correspondence with the SBA.

Contact a federal defense lawyer immediately. The earlier a lawyer gets involved, the more options you have. If you’re in the investigation phase – you received an SBA letter requesting documentation, or a grand jury subpoena, or an agent’s phone call – we may be able to respond in a way that avoids criminal charges entirely. If you’ve received a target letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we can present evidence showing you lack criminal intent or that prosecution isn’t warranted. Federal cases move quickly under the Speedy Trial Act. Delay costs you options.

How We Defend EIDL Fraud Cases in Boise

We start by obtaining and reviewing every document related to your EIDL loan – the application, your 2019 tax return, bank statements, accounting records, correspondence with the SBA. We compare the revenue figure you stated on your application to what your records show and identify the discrepancies prosecutors are relying on. We determine whether those discrepancies prove fraud or reflect good-faith estimates, honest mistakes, or reasonable interpretations of vague application language. We interview witnesses who can explain the context – your accountant, your bookkeeper, anyone who helped you complete the application.

We engage with prosecutors before indictment whenever possible. If the evidence shows you acted in good faith – you made reasonable revenue estimates based on available information, you misunderstood vague application language, you used the loan for legitimate business expenses – we present that evidence in a detailed submission. We argue the case doesn’t meet the criminal intent standard and doesn’t warrant prosecution. If the government is determined to charge you, we negotiate for reduced charges and capped loss amounts to minimize sentencing exposure.

At sentencing, whether you plead guilty or are convicted at trial, we fight for the lowest possible sentence. We present mitigation evidence – lack of criminal history, pandemic-related financial hardship, evidence that you used loan proceeds for legitimate business expenses, letters from family and community members, proof of repayment efforts. We argue for downward departures from guidelines based on extraordinary circumstances. We challenge the government’s loss calculation if it overstates actual harm. Federal sentencing is advocacy, not just mathematics.

Spodek Law Group has over 40 years of combined experience defending federal fraud charges nationwide. We’ve represented clients in high-profile cases where media attention ran against our clients – from Anna Delvey to the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case – but constitutional principles required vigorous defense. We’re available 24/7 because federal investigations don’t wait for business hours. Call us now. Your future depends on the decisions you make today.