Former Georgia mayoral candidate used $323G PPP loan on swimming pool, furniture, DOJ says

A former Georgia mayoral candidate in cost of a nonprofit claiming to help low-income households spent $323,000 in loans she obtained from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) on an in-ground pool for her residence, furnishings and to pay down her mortgage, amongst different private bills, the Justice Department alleges. 

Olivia Ware, CEO of Let’s Talk About the Family, Inc., has now been arraigned on federal fees of financial institution fraud and cash laundering, in line with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia. Prosecutors say Ware obtained the PPP loan after allegedly submitting a falsified utility to a financial institution that included “fictitious tax records purporting to show the company had 54 employees that were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary.” 

In 2017, Ware unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Conyers, a metropolis of about 15,000 exterior of Atlanta.  

“It has been said that bad times bring out the best in people, this case is not an example of that,” Special Agent in Charge Katrina Berger, who heads Homeland Security Investigations operations in Georgia and Alabama, mentioned in a press release. “Every time a fraudster steals money from the PPP fund another legitimate business is unable to get those funds to help real employees with real families.” 

Let’s Talk About the Family, on its website, describes itself as a “community based non-profit organization that assists low-income families with information that will enable them to help themselves and broaden their scope to identify resources from local and state agencies.” 

In a bio of Ware, a 61-year-old from Oxford, it says that “she has had a profound impact on the lives of families within Georgia communities for many years.   

“Dr. Ware’s drive and persistence to assist households via grant writing intervention and prevention packages has astounded native, state and nationwide leaders,” it added. 

But the Attorney’s Office says according to state records, Let’s Talk About the Family didn’t pay any wages to employees last year despite Ware receiving the sizeable loan intended to help small businesses that are struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Instead, Ware “allegedly spent the PPP loan for her personal profit, together with to purchase an in-ground swimming pool, furnishings, and different residence enchancment gadgets, and to pay down the principal on her mortgage,” the Office mentioned. 

“Authorities proceed to look at Paycheck Protection Program loans for acts of fraud, as the fees in opposition to Ware exhibit,” added Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine.  “Those who would think about stealing from the Paycheck Protection Program ought to suppose twice.” 

Let’s Talk About the Family did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News. 

Ware fell short in her attempt at a political career. Her campaign for mayor in 2017, resulted in her netting only 198 of the 1,052 votes cast.

“Please vote for Olivia Ware for Mayor of Conyers,” read a post on a Facebook page titled “Olivia Ware For Mayor”, next to an image that featured Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Georgia-born rapper 2Chainz. Ware was not present in the photograph. 

Last 12 months, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution raised suspicions about Ware’s work, reporting that she “touts her nonprofit as a serious homeless outreach within the suburbs east of Atlanta that she had operated quietly for years.” 

“Trouble is, there’s little proof that Let’s Talk About the Family, based mostly in her Newton County residence, runs such packages of the size Ware describes, and it’s unclear how many individuals she employs,” the newspaper said in a September article. “Shelter administrators and space regulation enforcement officers mentioned they’ve by no means heard of her operation.”