One charged and another sent to prison in pandemic fraud cases in Buffalo

Brian Avery Smith, 49, of Buffalo, appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo on a criminal complaint accusing him of wire fraud totaling nearly $120,000.

In the complaint against Smith, FBI special agent Sean J. Kelley said Smith sent two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Loan applications and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan application, on behalf of B Smith and Cos., to the Small Business Administration and SBA lenders. The complaint alleges he spent proceeds of the the Covid-19 relief loans — required to be spent on specific business-related expenses — toward another business he owned, Allentown Cafe, as well as personal purchases at adult entertainment clubs in Georgia, restaurants, clothing stores and hotels.

Federal Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer released him with conditions. Smith, who has been convicted at least two other times on fraud charges, is scheduled to return to court Nov. 16.

In a separate case, Shaneesha White, a 32-year-old from Buffalo, was sentenced Thursday to 41 months in prison and must pay $48,833 in restitution to the New York State Department of Labor. White pleaded guilty in September to charges of wire fraud connected to benefits received during a presidential-declared emergency. She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The investigation into B Smith and Cos. found inaccurate revenues and employee counts intentionally reported on the EIDL and PPP applications to qualify for the aid, according to court papers.

The criminal complaint detailed two of Smith's past infractions: a 2010 wire fraud conviction in Missouri that led to five years of probation and a 2012 wire and bank fraud conviction in Western New York for which he was sentenced to 63 months in prison. The complaint said that Smith was released from prison in 2017, but he then violated his supervised release and was sentenced to another nine months in prison.

White's sentencing followed a conviction for applying for and receiving unemployment insurance benefits falsely and fraudulently under her own name and joining others in fraudulently using the personal information of two other individuals to create accounts and receive unemployment insurance between June 2020 and February 2021. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle P. Rossi handled White's case, according to the news release.

The CARES Act, the March 2020 federal law White was convicted of defrauding, was intended to provide emergency financial help to Americans feeling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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