HARRISBURG — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on February 10, 2026, United States District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson sentenced Joshua White, 44, previously of Yoe, Pennsylvania, to 96 months’ imprisonment for bank fraud. As part of the sentence, Judge Wilson also ordered Mr. White to pay more than $2.3 million in restitution to victims and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release following his release from prison.
According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, Joshua White was the fourth and final defendant to be sentenced in a prosecution of a multi-year conspiracy to defraud the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which were intended to provide financial support to businesses and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2025, Judge Wilson sentenced Joshua White’s father, Creed White, 67, formerly of Freeland, Maryland, to 10 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and sentenced one of his employees, Joseph Bailey, 54, formerly of York, Pennsylvania, to 46 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy. In December 2025, Judge Wilson sentenced another of Creed White’s employees, Kester Murray, 40, of Emigsville, Pennsylvania, to two years of probation for his role in the fraud scheme. In total, United States Attorney Miller said the defendants obtained more than $11.5 million in PPP and EIDL proceeds, making this one of the largest PPP and EIDL frauds prosecuted in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Each of the defendants eventually pleaded guilty. As part of their sentences, Judge Wilson ordered each of the defendants to pay millions of dollars in restitution.
United States Attorney Miller explained that the federal investigation initially focused on Creed White, who owned Aluminum Alloys Manufacturing, an aluminum smelting and processing business in Yoe, Pennsylvania. Aluminum Alloys received disaster loans in early 2020, shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic. Thereafter, between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2022, Creed White submitted approximately 120 fraudulent applications for PPP and EIDLs on behalf of 18 other dormant businesses he owned or controlled, which had no actual operations or employees. Approximately 40 of the applications were approved, resulting in the disbursement of more than $11.5 million in loan proceeds into bank accounts that Creed White controlled, and which he later transferred among other accounts and used to pay for unauthorized expenses and for his personal enrichment. To carry out the scheme, Creed White filed applications in the names of numerous knowing and unwitting individuals whom he fraudulently represented to own the various businesses that he controlled. Creed White relied on Joshua White to obtain personally identifying information from these third parties and relied on Bailey and Murray to create fraudulent business, banking, and tax records that were furnished to banks and lending officials in support of the loan applications. Joshua White separately submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application on behalf of a dormant business that he owned, obtaining $175,000, which he spent on unauthorized expenses and a spree to Las Vegas.
Addressing the sentences that Judge Wilson imposed for each of the defendants, IRS-CI Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty said, “These individuals deliberately and repeatedly defrauded the PPP and the EIDL programs, which were designed to help small business owners during the COVID pandemic,” said Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. “These sentencings should be a deterrent to other would-be criminals, knowing that Special Agents from IRS-CI and our law enforcement partners are fully committed to bringing offenders like this to justice.”
Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, Special Agent in Charge of the Eastern Regional Office for the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General made a similar observation, noting, “When individuals manipulate pandemic relief programs for personal gain, they undermine public trust and divert critical resources from legitimate small businesses. These sentencings underscore that fraud against federal relief programs will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted. SBA OIG will continue to protect taxpayer dollars and uphold the integrity of SBA programs.”
“Treasury OIG welcomes the opportunity to contribute our expertise in combating fraud in these important programs”, said Department of the Treasury Deputy Inspector General Loren Sciurba, “We remain committed to protecting the taxpayer through detection, investigation, and prosecution of such frauds with other members of the law enforcement community.”
The matter was investigated by agents with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, the Small Business Administration-Office of Inspector General, and United States Treasury-Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Christian T. Haugsby prosecuted the case.
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