Amanda Clayborne-Williams

Sentenced. Clayborne-Williams pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced to five years of probation, including one year of home detention, with restitution of $447,305.98 to the SBA and $360,466.24 to the IRS.

Introduction

Amanda Clayborne-Williams, 45, of New Orleans, was sentenced for a pandemic-aid scheme that submitted twelve false loan applications for four entities and a tax-evasion scheme that spent years hiding her finances from the Internal Revenue Service . The sentence, handed down October 20, 2026 by U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey and announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana on October 23, followed her guilty pleas to wire fraud and tax evasion . The fraud netted her approximately $447,305.98 in Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan money — funds spent on personal expenses including a mortgage payment on her own residence, then forgiven through false certifications to the Small Business Administration .

Background Information

Between April 2020 and January 2021, Clayborne-Williams submitted twelve false and misleading applications for loans through the PPP and the EIDL program, seeking approximately $1.3 million on behalf of four entities . Each application contained materially false information about the number of employees, average monthly payroll, gross receipts, or gross revenue for the entity it was filed under . She received approximately $447,305.98 through the fraud, used the funds for personal and unauthorized expenses — including the mortgage payment on her personal residence — did not repay the EIDLs as required, and let the loans default . She then submitted a forgiveness application to the SBA for each PPP loan, falsely certifying the money had gone to permissible items and payroll expenses; the SBA forgave eight of the loans she had obtained .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The tax side of the case ran separately and longer. Clayborne-Williams attempted to evade paying income tax for tax years 2011-2014 and 2016-2020, and in 2022 IRS Collections opened an investigation because she owed significant overdue taxes . Even though she had sufficient income to make payments on her back taxes that year, she sought and obtained “Currently Not Collectible/Unable to Pay” account status . In November 2022 she submitted a false form to the IRS on which she failed to report bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and business information — the evasive conduct that caused a loss of $360,466.24 to the IRS . The two schemes together made the case: pandemic money obtained by inflated payroll fiction, and a tax authority deliberately blinded to her real finances .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Judge Zainey sentenced Clayborne-Williams to five years of probation, including one year of home detention and 150 hours of community service, plus a $200 mandatory special assessment . He also ordered restitution of $447,305.98 to the SBA and $360,466.24 to the IRS — the full take of both schemes, now debts . U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle announced the sentence and praised the work of the IRS on the investigation; Assistant United States Attorney Maria M. Carboni of the Public Integrity Unit is in charge of the prosecution .

Current Status

Clayborne-Williams, 45, is serving a five-year probation term with one year of home detention, owing restitution to two federal agencies under judgments entered October 20, 2026 . The release does not describe any separate proceedings against the four entities she filed the loan applications under, or recovery of the eight PPP loans the SBA forgave on her false certifications beyond the restitution order itself . Her guilty pleas to wire fraud and tax evasion resolve both halves of the case .

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 45, Clayborne-Williams carries federal fraud and tax-evasion convictions and a restitution load of roughly $807,000 across the SBA and IRS — more than the $447,306 she actually received, once the tax loss is counted. The case is the Eastern District of Louisiana’s entry in the pandemic-fraud ledger: twelve applications, four entities, one false “unable to pay” form to the IRS, and a home-detention year that now frames the finances she tried to hide. The sentence keeps her out of prison but keeps every dollar she took on the books as an owed debt.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, “New Orleans Woman Sentenced for $1.3 Million Covid Fraud and Tax Evasion,” October 23, 2026 — source