SBA Employee Got Hired at the IRS Too, Then Robbed Both Agencies Blind: The $3.5 Million Attallah Williams Saga

You know how normal people update their LinkedIn when they get a second job? Attallah Williams, 32, of Hampton, Georgia, apparently updated her criminal portfolio instead. This woman got herself hired at both the SBA and the IRS, and then used both positions to systematically loot over $3.5 million from four separate COVID-19 relief programs. Four. Not one program. Not two. Four different federal honeypots, all raided by the same person, in the same government, at the same time.

Let that soak in. The federal government's own hiring process was so rigorous, so thorough, so airtight that one person held simultaneous positions at two agencies and used both of them to run a multi-year fraud ring. The TSA checks your shoes more carefully than the SBA checks its employees.

The Four-Program Heist: A Step-by-Step Guide to Robbing Uncle Sam

Williams did not just pick one program and get greedy. She went full buffet. According to the charges filed on January 12, 2026, here is the menu she ordered from:

Course 1: EIDL Loans. She submitted fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications using businesses that did not exist. Imaginary companies. Ghost storefronts. Digital vapor that somehow passed the SBA's legendary application review process (you know, the one where a hamster with a rubber stamp would be an upgrade).

Course 2: PPP Loans. Not content with fake EIDL applications, she also filed fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan apps. Protecting paychecks that were never issued to employees that were never hired by companies that never existed. Peak efficiency.

Course 3: EIDL Advance Grants. Here is where it gets truly beautiful. Williams used her actual SBA position, the one where she was a trusted government employee, to approve applications from conspirators she personally recruited on Instagram. Instagram. She was running a federal fraud ring through DMs. "Hey girl, want free government money? Slide into my SBA portal." She took kickbacks on every approval.

Course 4: Employee Retention Tax Credits. After presumably getting bored defrauding the SBA, Williams moved to the IRS and immediately started a new scam. She recruited accomplices to submit false tax documents for Employee Retention Tax Credits, charging a fee for each fraudulent application she processed. At this point she was basically a franchise operator.

The Part That Should Make Your Blood Boil

While Attallah Williams was running a multi-agency fraud ring from inside the building, the SBA was busy suspending legitimate small business owners for paperwork technicalities. They were sending threatening letters to restaurant owners who used their EIDL money on rent instead of "approved business expenses." They were demanding repayment from barbers and florists who got $10,000 advances during the worst economic crisis in a century.

But a literal employee recruiting fraud accomplices on social media? That took three years to catch. Three years. She ran this scheme across two agencies, four programs, and presumably hundreds of fraudulent applications before anyone noticed. The investigation required the SBA Office of Inspector General, the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, AND the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office. It took five agencies to catch what one HR department should have prevented.

Somewhere right now, a small business owner who legitimately borrowed $15,000 to keep their pizza shop alive during COVID is getting a collections notice. And Attallah Williams was cashing kickbacks from Instagram.

The system is not broken. It was never assembled.