A Denham Springs man pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of wire fraud over a scheme to obtain money from a federal pandemic assistance program, admitting he submitted falsified loan applications in the months after COVID-19 hit Louisiana. Muncy McAllister, 39, entered his plea before a federal judge in Baton Rouge.
Two Applications, One Scheme
According to WBRZ, McAllister submitted two fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications in August 2020, part of the federal government's pandemic-era effort to keep small businesses afloat. U.S. Attorney Kurt Wall said McAllister attempted to obtain more than $177,000 through those applications, though the case does not establish whether he actually received that money.
The applications themselves were built on a string of falsehoods, the station's report states. McAllister is accused of claiming his business brought in far more revenue than it actually did, that he employed multiple workers, and that he had no recent felony convictions — a claim prosecutors say was false. The U.S. Department of Justice, Middle District of Louisiana identifies McAllister as a convicted felon, and his plea was entered before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson.
Charges Tied to a Federal Pandemic Program
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana said McAllister's guilty plea Tuesday stemmed directly from his scheme targeting the pandemic assistance program.
A Program Plagued by Fraud Nationwide
McAllister's case is a small piece of a much larger problem. A 2025 update from the U.S. Small Business Administration's inspector general estimated that the agency disbursed more than $200 billion in potentially fraudulent loans through its COVID-19 relief programs. That estimate followed an earlier SBA report noting the agency had disbursed roughly $1.2 trillion total in COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program funds over the course of the pandemic.
Louisiana has seen other pandemic-fraud cases work through federal court in recent weeks. In a separate matter out of New Orleans, Amanda Clayborne-Williams, 45, was sentenced on October 20 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion in a case described by the U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of Louisiana as involving $1.3 million. The two cases are unrelated, but together they illustrate how federal prosecutors across the state continue working through a backlog of pandemic-loan fraud allegations years after the money went out the door.
