A US man, Kimani Bracey, operated two websites selling counterfeit tax returns, bank records, payslips and employment verification documents that customers used to support fraudulent loan applications and steal government pandemic relief funds.

The 49-year-old, from Simpsonville, South Carolina, knew that customers were buying the documents to commit fraud but continued supplying them through the online marketplaces, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

The operation provided customers with documents that could be presented to banks as genuine financial and employment records when applying for loans.

Among the products sold were fake tax returns and bank statements, which could be used to misrepresent an applicant's financial position.

Bracey also produced counterfeit payslips and employer verification documents that customers used to support loan applications.

The documents were not limited to conventional banking fraud. The marketplace also supplied fake COVID-19 test results, expanding the range of fraudulent records available to customers.

Investigators eventually traced several documents produced by Bracey to applications for loans under the US government's Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP), which was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic to help businesses affected by the crisis.

The applications were submitted to banks and resulted in more than $380,000 in fraudulent loans.

US Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Bracey had knowingly used the pandemic to facilitate financial crime by supplying documents that helped others defraud public institutions and financial companies.

“Bracey exploited the nation's struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic by creating and disseminating fake documents that fuelled extensive fraud against the government, banks, and other financial institutions,” Hertzberg said.

How investigators connected the documents to the fraud

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) traced multiple counterfeit documents produced through Bracey's websites to PPP loan applications submitted to banks.

This helped investigators establish a link between the online document marketplace and the fraudulent acquisition of government-backed loans.

The investigation showed that Bracey was not merely selling novelty documents, as the websites purported to do.

He knew customers were using the materials to commit fraud, according to information presented in court.

FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said Bracey had profited from helping people steal federal funds at a time when the country was dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

“During a time of unprecedented national peril, Kimani Bracey took advantage of a pandemic and profited off helping others steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds,” Graham said.

The fraudulent loans resulted in losses of $386,960.50, which Bracey was ordered to repay.

Bracey pleaded guilty to wire fraud on June 26, 2026.

On October 28, US District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. sentenced him to two years and three months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $386,960.50 in restitution.

The US Department of Justice said people with information about attempted Covid-19-related fraud could report it through its National Center for Disaster Fraud.