BATON ROUGE – A Gonzales man found guilty of conspiring to launder money and defraud millions of dollars from COVID-19 relief funds has been sentenced to 18 years behind bars. 

Damian Raby, 42, was also sentenced to pay $2.6 million in restitution to the U.S. Treasury, as well as the forfeiture of $2.05 million. He must also serve three years of supervised release after completing his sentence, U.S. Attorney Kurt Wall said Thursday.

Raby devised a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by falsely claiming employee retention tax credits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The businesses either did not exist or did not have any legitimate business activity before the pandemic, the prosecutors said. 

In total, Raby filed fraudulent applications on behalf of dozens of businesses and caused the IRS to issue more than 30 checks totaling approximately $4.4 million.

Raby and his accomplices would try to disguise the proceeds by quickly making additional financial transactions and moving the fraudulent proceeds among the various bank accounts Raby controlled, leading to the money laundering charges, prosecutors said. He used this money to make large payments on numerous luxury vehicles, the mortgage of his personal home and other large purchases.

Federal agents also seized more than $600,000 from bank accounts controlled by Raby and seized and forfeited a Gonzales home over the course of the investigation. 

Kenyall Williams, 39, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and make unlawful monetary transactions. She admitted, in her plea, that she was aware of Raby's scheme and she participated as well.

“My office has emphasized that efforts to prosecute COVID-19-related fraud are critical to maintaining the integrity of government relief programs. This sentence is a demonstration of our commitment to protecting public funds from fraudsters using deceptive tactics," Wall said. 

In 2019, WBRZ reported that Raby was accused of using a fake identity to secure a job at a credit union, where he stole more than $40,000 from accounts.