Ky. man who ran ‘Southern Fried’ comic cons admits lying for $370K in coronavirus loans
An Eastern Kentucky man has admitted lying on applications to get $370,000 in federal aid meant for businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.
David Christopher Lewis, 48, of Harlan County, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to one charge of wire fraud for emailing the fraudulent applications. The crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, court records show.
Lewis also agreed to a forfeiture judgment of $370,000 to be repaid.
Lewis operated a company called Bubba Fest LLC, which arranged events he called “Southern Fried” comic cons where fans could meet celebrities, and another company called Elite Artists Agency LLC.
Lewis admitted that in 2020, he applied for a loan for each of the businesses through a program called the Paycheck Protection Program, authorized by Congress to help companies keep employees on the payroll during the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
Businesses could get the loans forgiven if they kept employees on the job for a certain time.
Lewis lied on the applications about the number of employees he had and the amount of payroll expenses.
The U.S. Small Business Administration approved both loans and the money went into a bank account controlled by Lewis, according to his plea agreement.
After the FBI started investigating, Lewis allegedly tried to get a person to sign a false employment contract to cover the payroll expenses he had claimed.
He also admitted telling federal prosecutors, falsely, that he had hired a tax preparer to fill out the loan applications, and that the preparer told him the applications were accurate but wouldn’t return his records.
As part of the deal for Lewis to plead guilty, the government agreed not to charge his wife, Crystal Lewis, for any role in submitting the fraudulent loan applications, according to the plea document.
Action star Chuck Norris was among the celebrities who appeared at the August 2019 Bubba Fest in Knoxville, Tenn., that Lewis arranged.
Attorneys for Norris later claimed Lewis didn’t pay the actor all he was owed.
In July 2020, not long after Lewis filed fraudulent applications for the coronavirus loans, an arbitrator in Texas ordered him to pay Norris’ company $31,050 under the Bubba Fest contract, plus attorneys’ fees of $130,489 and $11,630 in arbitration costs.
A request to enforce that judgment is pending in federal court in London.
Federal authorities have charged hundreds of people with scams related to coronavirus relief funding.
This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 12:48 PM.
