A 31-year-old Seattle man, Westcott Francis-Curley, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The charges stem from three separate fraudulent schemes carried out between 2019 and 2022.
Francis-Curley has been in federal custody since March 2024, following his indictment in August 2023.
Francis-Curley’s fraudulent activities began in 2019 when he embezzled more than $550,000 from his then-employer.
Using his access to company resources, he misused cloud computing accounts and purchased cloud services at inflated prices. He then sold these services back to the company, paying himself with company funds at significantly higher rates than their market value.
He was caught while attempting to secure an additional $500,000.
Francis-Curley spent large portions of the embezzled funds on lavish personal expenses, including private jet travel.
In 2020, Francis-Curley defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a government initiative designed to assist small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He submitted false applications claiming two companies he controlled had large payrolls, even though the businesses had no operations or payroll.
As a result, he obtained nearly $100,000 in relief funds, which he spent on personal goods and services.
The final scheme occurred in October 2022, when Francis-Curley applied for a credit card in the name of his former significant other.
He used the card for over $1,000 in personal expenses.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 21, 2025.
Both the prosecution and defense attorneys will recommend a three-year prison sentence.
Francis-Curley has agreed to pay restitution to his former employer, the Small Business Administration, and to the individual whose identity he used to open the credit card.
Wire fraud carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, while wire fraud in connection with a national disaster can carry up to 30 years.
Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory two-year sentence, which would run consecutively to any other sentence.
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