https://katv.com/news/local/fbi-raid
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — FBI agents arrested Chandler Wilson Carroll, an Arkansas businesswoman, at her home in Little Rock today.
According to federal court documents, Carroll is facing 4 counts of wire fraud and 4 counts of money laundering for abusing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). Carroll was an owner of 3 different businesses involved in the alleged fraud: WilCarr Ventures, Wilson Carroll Research Services (WCRS), and Brook Haven Lodge.
On April 6, 2020, Carroll applied for an EIDL loan for WCRS, two months later she received the loan of $150,000. The loan application stated that WCRS' gross revenue for 2019 was $90,570,864, and that she had 11 employees.
However, Carroll had previously reported to the IRS her business's total gross receipts in 2019 were $499,999, and in the first quarter of 2020 she had 0 employees. Court documents allege Carroll then used the money to buy a Ford vehicle and items from Sissy's Log Cabin.
Carroll also applied for multiple PPP loans for WCRS, only one being approved for $190,875. On the approved PPP loan application, she listed the average monthly payroll at $76,350 for 12 employees.
A month later, Carroll applied for a PPP loan for her other business, WilCarr Ventures. She received the largest loan at $1,600,000 on May 28, 2020.
She listed 121 as the number of employees with a $640,000 monthly payroll, but WilCarr Ventures did not file any taxes in 2019, 2020, or 2021.
According to court documents, a former employee stated the business had just started and had at the most 4 employees in 2020. The documents also state the money was used to buy a Ford vehicle, a house, and other items.
In March 2021 Carroll applied for a second PPP loan for WCRS, the loan was granted for $146,848. On the loan application, WCRS's Average Monthly Payroll was listed as $58,739.29 with 14 employees. The 2020 Gross Receipts were $1,063,526 and the 2019 Gross Receipts were $1,636,195.
However, Carroll reported her 2019 total gross receipts for WCRS as $499,999 to the IRS.
According to the court documents, Carroll also reported different 2020 first-quarter wages to 2 different banks and the IRS, $175,107 to Simmons Bank, $238,602 to JP Morgan Chase, and $12,513 to the IRS.
In total, Carroll was awarded a little over $2 million in small business loans.
She was arraigned today and pleaded not guilty.
Carroll's jury trial date is set for May 21, 2024, in the Eastern District of Arkansas.