A 37-year-old Atlanta man who led nine other business owners in a scheme to steal more than $3 million in fraudulent pandemic relief loans was sentenced Wednesday to more than 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Ian Jackson, already a two-time convicted felon, orchestrated at least 15 fraudulent loans before investigators caught up with him.
According to WSB-TV, Jackson led a scheme in which nine other business owners submitted fake Paycheck Protection Program loan applications stuffed with phony information, along with fraudulent IRS tax forms, to multiple banks. Each business that participated received $300,000 in aid money meant to help small businesses survive the pandemic. Once the funds landed, the station reports, the owners wrote checks to people who did not actually work for their businesses, then kept or split whatever was left over.
A Share of the Spoils and a Second Set of Schemes
Jackson himself received a cut of the stolen proceeds, the outlet's reporting shows. But he didn't stop at collecting his share of the group scheme — he also used a fake Georgia driver's license, falsified tax forms and a bank statement on his own, applying or attempting to apply for additional pandemic loans under false pretenses.
Those solo efforts were substantial on their own. Per the same account, Jackson sought approximately $100,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans and PPP loans, obtained a fraudulent $237,500 PPP loan, and pulled in another $125,000 in EIDL loans and grants. In total, prosecutors say he spent the fraud proceeds on restaurant dining, spa services, phone and credit card bills, and a trip to Aruba.
Guilty Plea Followed Months of Federal Scrutiny
Jackson pleaded guilty on June 30 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, two counts of bank fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, the station notes. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Jackson recruited accomplices to manipulate pandemic relief programs, stealing more than $3 million earmarked for small business owners who suffered during the pandemic.
Marlo Graham said Jackson orchestrated a multimillion-dollar fraud despite his prior fraud felony convictions, showing a disregard for the law and American taxpayers, the same report states. Federal prosecutors had previously said that if convicted, Jackson faced a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on the conspiracy and bank-fraud counts, and 20 years on the wire-fraud and money-laundering counts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jackson's Case Fits a Broader Pattern of Pandemic Fraud
Jackson's prosecution lands amid a steady stream of pandemic-relief fraud cases working their way through federal courts nationwide. As of December 31, 2024, the Department of Justice had publicly announced criminal fraud-related charges involving pandemic-relief programs against at least 3,096 defendants, including both individuals and entities, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Elsewhere in Georgia, four men in Columbus were sentenced to prison after conspiring to unlawfully claim millions in pandemic relief funds designed to help small businesses and workers, according to the FBI's Atlanta field office. And in Iowa, an Urbandale business man was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison this month for making false statements on an SBA Paycheck Protection Program loan, per the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
Federal investigators say recovering stolen pandemic funds remains an ongoing effort. The SBA Office of Inspector General reported that recoveries from two financial institutions contributed to more than $2.8 billion in total investigative recoveries involving suspected fraud across the SBA's COVID-19 relief programs. The Department of Justice National Center for Disaster Fraud accepts reports of alleged pandemic program fraud through a hotline at (866) 720-5721, while the SBA Office of the Inspector General accepts similar reports through its own complaint submission process.
