Ex-Georgia mayor gets prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of his city's COVID-19 relief funds

• Jason Lary stole pandemic relief funds for personal use, private businesses, and associates, per DOJ.
• The former mayor also distributed checks to businesses, churches, and nonprofits of his choice.

A former mayor of a Georgia city was sentenced to prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.

Jason Lary, the 60-year-old former mayor of Atlanta suburb Stonecrest, used his office to obtain federal funding meant for small businesses and public health expenses during the early days of the pandemic.

The Justice Department said Georgia's DeKalb County gave Stonecrest a $6.2 million grant, which was eventually redirected into private companies formed by Lary.

"Lary betrayed the trust placed in him by the citizens of Stonecrest by stealing the very funds meant to help his constituents weather the COVID-19 pandemic," US Attorney Ryan Buchanan said in a statement.

He continued: "The people of Stonecrest deserved better, and corrupt officials can expect severe consequences for using their offices to commit crimes."

In the release, the Justice Department outlined an elaborate scheme in which Lary set up a private business to collect $6 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act that was supposed to go towards masks, testing, public health expenditures, and grants for small businesses in the city.

The former mayor set up a private company, Municipal Resource Partners Corporation, Inc., to collect the checks with the help of his co-conspirator Lania Boone.

The city then entered a partnership with MRPC to help distribute the aid. But in practice, federal authorities said that some of the funds were used for personal expenses.

In one case, Lary used $108,000 to pay off a mortgage for his lakefront home, according to the Justice Department. He then used an additional $7,600 to pay off Boone's son's college tuition and rent.

When a church was set to receive relief funds, Lary placed conditions around the aid. For example, one church was given $150,000 on the condition that $50,000 be given to a company that Lary controlled. Lary also lied that the money would be used on home repairs for those who could not afford them during the pandemic.

"In reality, he used the money for his own purposes, including to pay off his outstanding federal, state, and local tax liabilities," federal authorities said.

Lary pled guilty in January to conspiracy, wire fraud, and federal program theft.

He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay nearly $120,000 in restitution.

"This sentencing holds Lary accountable for abusing his position of trust and blatant disrespect for the law," FBI special agent Keri Farley said in a statement.

In the past few years, federal aid programs have become a ripe target of fraud and criminal schemes to misappropriate funds that were intended to help some of the most hard-hit Americans and small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General estimated that at least $163 billion were paid improperly "with a significant portion attributable to fraud," according to the agency's report from March 17. Just $4 billion have been reclaimed by the US, The Washington Post reported.

Another study conducted last year by the University of Texas's Department of Finance found that around $76 billion could have been improperly taken out of the $800 billion in loans provided by the Paycheck Protection Program.

Federal authorities have made efforts to clamp down on fraudulent unemployment claims.

By March 26, 2021, the Justice Department charged 474 people for fraud claims that amount to over $569 million.

In June, 19 people were charged by the DOJ for their alleged involvement to steal over $24 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Weeks later, federal authorities announced that a Los Angeles rapper Fontrell Antonio Baines, who goes by Nuke Bizzle, pleaded guilty to fraud after making 92 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims that resulted in losses of over $700,00 and attempted losses of about $1.25 million.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.