BECKLEY, W.Va. – Ross Jay Bailey, 50, of Cool Ridge, was sentenced today to five years of federal probation, including two years on home detention, and ordered to pay $1,596,301.46 in restitution for theft of government money. Bailey obtained a $2 million loan through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for his business and instead converted at least $1.4 million of the proceeds for his personal enrichment. Bailey has paid the restitution in full.According to court documents and statements made in court, on or about June 30, 2020, Bailey obtained an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) of $150,000 on behalf of his business, R&R Delivery Service Inc. The CARES Act authorized the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide EIDL program loans of up to $2 million to eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Bailey successfully applied to increase the loan amount in August 2021 to $500,000 and in February 2022 to the $2 million maximum. Bailey certified that he would use all loans proceeds solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic.As part of his guilty plea, Bailey admitted that he fraudulently used the money he obtained through the EIDL program for purposes he knew were expressly forbidden. Bailey transferred at least $1.4 million of the EIDL proceeds from his business’s bank account to his personal bank account from on or about March 1, 2022, through on or about May 31, 2022, and Bailey converted these funds into purchases of stock and cryptocurrency for his personal enrichment. In addition to the criminal restitution ordered today, Bailey has agreed to pay $2,403,698.54 to settle the government’s pending civil claims brought under the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, and for breach of contract.Bailey’s brother, Ryan Keith Bailey, 47, of Beaver, was sentenced on September 16, 2025, to one year and two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,134,900 in restitution after pleading guilty to theft of government money. Ryan Keith Bailey obtained $2,166,517.40 in loans through the CARES Act for his business and instead converted nearly all of the proceeds for his personal use. The United States filed a civil lawsuit against Ryan Keith Bailey seeking civil damages and penalties that could exceed $9,289,579.10.Mark William Bailey, 53, of Beckley and a cousin of Ross Jay Bailey and Ryan Keith Bailey, pleaded guilty on September 8, 2023, to theft of government monies, admitting he stole approximately $451,237.51 in SBA loans he obtained through the CARES Act. On October 25, 2024, Mark William Bailey was sentenced to five years of federal probation, including one year on home detention, and paid $451,237.51 in restitution and an additional $451,237.98 as a civil penalty to settle False Claims Act allegations.“He didn’t just break the law – he exploited a moment of national crisis for personal profit,” United States Attorney Moore Capito said of Ross Jay Bailey. “While families were struggling to survive and small businesses were fighting to keep their doors open, these three treated relief funds like a personal bank account. Today’s sentence makes clear that greed dressed up as opportunity will be met with accountability. We will find those who steal from the public trust, and we will hold them to answer — no matter how they try to hide it, and no matter how many of them there are.”The Bailey family members are among more than 30 individuals convicted in the Southern District of West Virginia of offenses involving the theft or fraudulent use of COVID-19 relief funds…
Source: U.S. Department of Justice