Ryan Keith Bailey, 47, of Beaver, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution for theft of government money.
Bailey obtained $2.1 million in loans through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act for his business but he spent nearly all of it on himself.
Court documents say that on April 20, 2020, Bailey applied for a $166,517.40 Paycheck Protection Program loan available under the CARES Act on behalf of his business, RKB Inc.
The Small Business Administration gave PPP loans, a source of emergency financial assistance provided by the CARES Act to Americans suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bailey said that he would use the money to cover payroll and cover mortgage interest, lease, and utility costs. He received $166,517.40 into the RKB Inc. business checking account on May 1, 2020. Within 18 days, court documents say that Bailey transferred $160,000 of the loan to his personal accounts.
As part of his guilty plea, Bailey admitted that his certification was false and that only $6,517.00 of the PPP loan proceeds were spent for RKB Inc.’s legitimate business expenses.
Loan forgiveness was allowed under the PPP program when proceeds went solely to eligible purposes. On November 30, 2020, Bailey falsely certified that the PPP loan proceeds were used only on permissible expenses when he applied to have RKB Inc.’s loan forgiven. The SBA ultimately forgave $157,456.50 of the $166,517.40 PPP loan for RKB Inc.
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Bailey obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for RKB Inc. from the SBA on January 6, 2021, and later successfully applied several times to increase its amount from $150,000 to the maximum allowable amount of $2,000,000.
The CARES Act authorized the SBA to provide EIDL program loans of up to $2 million to eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruption because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bailey admitted that he transferred over $1,974,900 of the EIDL proceeds to his personal bank accounts, his personal brokerage account, and a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Bailey paid $192,000 of the court-ordered restitution in advance of today’s sentencing. The United States has also frozen assets of Bailey totaling $1.3 million.
“This defendant stole more than $2.1 million in taxpayer funds for his own personal benefit. Today’s sentence shows that this office will use all available means to bring those who commit such crimes to justice and recover their fraudulent gains,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “Prosecuting these schemes protects the contributions of hard-working Americans, preserves confidence in government relief programs, and ensures that aid from those programs reaches those who truly need it."
NASA OIG is a member of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Fraud Task Force. The PRAC’s 20 member Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency boundaries to detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5 trillion in COVID-19 spending, including spending via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. This case was also supported by the PRAC’s Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, which applies the latest advances in analytic and forensic technologies to help OIGs and law enforcement pursue data-driven pandemic relief fraud investigations.
Chief United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes prosecuted the case with assistance from Asset Forfeiture Assistant United States Attorney Justin Marlowe.
Bailey’s brother, Ross Jay Bailey, 50, of Cool Ridge, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2025, to theft of government money. Ross Jay Bailey obtained a $2 million loan through the CARES Act for his business and instead converted at least $1.4 million of the proceeds for his personal enrichment. Ross Jay Bailey is scheduled to be sentenced on December 12, 2025.
Mark William Bailey, 53, of Beckley and a cousin of Ross Jay Bailey and Ryan Keith Bailey, pleaded guilty on September 8, 2023, to theft of government monies, admitting he stole about $451,237.51 in SBA loans he obtained through the CARES Act. On October 25, 2024, Mark William Bailey was sentenced to five years of federal probation, including one year on home detention, and paid $451,237.51 in restitution and an additional $451,237.98 as a civil penalty to settle False Claims Act allegations.
Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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