Taylorsville Woman Charged with Making False Statements to Obtain Millions of Dollars in PPP Loans.
DEC 16, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: DEC 17, 2021
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Magistrate Judge Dustin B. Pead:
Initial Appearance/Arraignment/
Defendant present IN-PERSON with counsel not in custody.
The defendant waives formal reading of Superseding Indictment. Rights and penalties explained. The defendants enter
Pleas of NOT GUILTY. The defendant is ordered on continued release.
Attorney for Plaintiff: Jennifer Muyskens, Attorney for Defendant: Blake Hamilton, Retained. Interpreter: Not needed. Probation Officer: Wyatt Stanworth.
Court Reporter: electronic.
(Time Start: 1:55:17 pm, Time End: 1:58:49 pm, Room 8.400.) (ksm) Modified on 7/27/2022 by editing text (ksm). (Entered: 07/27/2022)
Update (June 10, 2022):
Yup, LIT nailed it when we were alarmed that Baver was released. Now she’s harassing and threatening witnesses for the prosecution.
MOTION TO MODIFY PRETRIAL RELEASE CONDITIONS AND REQUEST FOR HEARING
The United States, by and through the undersigned Assistant United States Attorneys, respectfully moves this Court to amend the defendant’s conditions of pretrial release to include a no contact order in this case.
In support of this motion, the United States relies on the following:
A nine-count indictment was filed on December 15, 2021, charging defendant ALLISON BAVER (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) with False Statements to a Bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, and Money Laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957.
On January 18, 2022, the Defendant appeared in court for her initial appearance and arraignment.
At that hearing, the Court imposed certain conditions of release for the Defendant.1
A no-contact order was not imposed.
On or about May 14, 2022, the United States was advised by a potential witness in this case (R.M.) that the Defendant had approached R.M. and yelled at R.M. because
R.M. provided certain information about the Defendant to the United States in connection with this case.
(The information provided by R.M. to the United States was produced as part of discovery.)
R.M. advised that the Defendant threatened to sue R.M.
That same weekend, the Defendant was observed on multiple occasions using her cell phone to film the front of R.M.’s home.
R.M. reported to the United States that they felt harassed by the Defendant’s conduct and by her statements.
The Defendant and R.M. are neighbors.
R.M. provided to the United States copies of security surveillance videos that corroborate R.M.’s statements about the Defendant’s actions.
A court has the inherent power to protect witnesses.
See Wheeler v. United States, 640 F.2d 1116, 1123 (9th Cir. 1981);
United States v. Kirk, 534 F.2d 1262 (8th Cir.1976).
The Supreme Court recognized a trial judge’s broad discretion to protect the administration of justice from “abuses, oppression, and injustice.”
Bitter v. United States, 389 U.S. 15, 16 (1976).
See also United States v. De Castro-Font, 587 F. Supp.2d 364, 368-69 (D. P.R. 2008)
(“The prohibition of contacts with victims or persons who are or may be witnesses is, logically, prophylactic. It is predicated on the Court’s inherent power to protect victims and witnesses. It seeks to prevent a defendant from intimidating someone who, by nature of being a victim or a potential witness, is already in a difficult and delicate position.”).
Based on the Defendant’s conduct and statements toward R.M., to include the Defendant’s stated anger at R.M. and threats to sue R.M. because R.M. provided information to the United States, the United States believes that a no-contact order is warranted in this case.
The United States does not wish to exclude reasonable efforts by Defendant’s counsel to investigate or prepare for trial.
Rather, the United States is seeking to prevent the Defendant from engaging in harassing, intimidating, and/or threatening behavior directed at potential witnesses.
Notably, the Defendant and R.M. are neighbors, so the potential is high for continued harassment by the Defendant.
The United States contacted defense counsel on or about May 16, 2022 to advise counsel about the alleged contact between the Defendant and R.M., as well as the United States’ intent to seek a modification of the Defendant’s release conditions to include a no-contact order.
At the time of this filing, defense counsel has not provided the United States with its position on this motion.
For the foregoing reasons, and any other reasons that may be elicited at a hearing on this matter, the United States respectfully requests that this Court modify the Defendant’s pretrial release conditions to include an order that Defendant avoid all contact, directly or indirectly, with any person who is or may be a potential witness in this case.
The United States further requests that the no-contact order specify that the Defendant shall not engage in any harassing, threatening, abusive, or stalking behavior toward any witness in this case.
The United States further requests a hearing on this motion.
1 “Order Setting Conditions of Release,” Docket No. 13.
DATED this 2nd day of June, 2022.
TRINA A. HIGGINS
United States Attorney
/s/ Jennifer K. Muyskens
Jennifer K. Muyskens
Assistant United States Attorney
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Cecilia M. Romero:
Motion Hearing as to Allison Marie Baver held on 6/13/2022 re 26 MOTION to Modify Conditions of Release to Include a No-Contact Order filed by USA. Court hears from the parties. Discussion held re: the motion to modify conditions of release. Court grants the motion. SEE AMENDED ORDER SETTING CONDITIONS OF RELEASE. Cnsl made an oral motion to seal 29 Response to the Motion to Modify Conditions of Release. Court grants oral motion. Written Order to follow oral order: n. Attorney for Plaintiff: Jennifer Muyskens, Attorney for Defendant: R. Blake Hamilton, CJA. Interpreter: Not Needed. Probation Officer: Caroline Bye-Routh. Court Reporter: Electronic.(Time Start: 1:06:14, Time End: 1:14:41, Room 7.400.)(reb) (Entered: 06/13/2022)
SALT LAKE CITY – Allison Marie Baver, 41, of Taylorsville, has been charged with nine federal criminal counts related to making false statements on loan applications to obtain funds obtained through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In the indictment, Baver is charged with eight counts of making a false statement to a bank and one count of money laundering.
According to the allegations contained in the federal indictment, Baver is the listed owner and agent for Allison Baver Entertainment, LLC, and submitted eight PPP loan applications from April 13, 2020, through April 26, 2020 to Northeast Bank and Meridian Bank.
In each of the loan applications, Baver allegedly sought 10 million dollars of PPP loan funding for her entertainment company.
However, prosecutors allege that Baver falsely stated in each loan application that ABE’s average monthly payroll was between $4,000,000 to $4,769,583, when ABE had no average monthly payroll; and, that ABE had between 100 to 430 employees, when ABE had no employees.
Prosecutors also allege that these false statements resulted in Baver fraudulently obtaining 10 million dollars in PPP loans from Meridian Bank, and that Baver accepted that money and transferred it to a separate bank account where she began using a portion of the funding to invest in a movie.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.
The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.
For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Assistant United States Attorneys are prosecuting the case and the FBI and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General are conducting the investigation.
Allegations are not findings of guilt and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.
Topic(s):
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO – Utah
Updated December 16, 2021
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