SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A South Charleston woman has been sentenced to four months in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Lydia Spencer, 33, was sentenced on Thursday, and her sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, Spencer has been ordered to pay $36,814.12 in restitution.
Spencer was the sole proprietor of a custom clothing business in Charleston and admitted to participating in a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program. Spencer conspired with at least three other individuals in 2021 to obtain over $30,000 in COVID-19 relief funds from the Small Business Administration.
Spencer willingly provided her bank account information to co-conspirators in the spring of 2021, and her information was used by one of the co-conspirators to submit fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications. Two separate lenders approved the PPP loans for Spencer’s business, Les Prints, and Spencer received $15,625 from each lender. The transfers were then deposited in Spencer’s bank account.
Spencer also admitted that the PPP loan applications had false information. When asked to provide documentation showing her business’ gross income from 2019 or 2020, Spencer falsely stated that Les Prints had received $75,000 in the year 2020.
Spencer is currently held at South Central Regional Jail.