Former Olympic bronze medalist and Berks County native Allison Marie Baver, a current resident of Taylorsville, Utah, was recently convicted on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and contempt by a federal jury.
Baver, 42, was found guilty of submitting fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications for her company, Allison Baver Entertainment LLC (ABE).
The PPP initiative, implemented to support small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis, was misused by Baver to obtain funds based on false claims.
Court documents indicate that Baver had sought $10 million of PPP loan funding for ABE by submitting 8 fraudulent loan applications to Northeast Bank and Meridian Bank on April 25 and 26, 2020.
In these applications, Baver falsely reported ABE’s average monthly payroll as $4,770,583 and claimed to have 430 employees, when, in fact, ABE had no payroll or employees.
These false statements led Meridian Bank to approve and disburse the requested $10 million PPP loan. Baver then allegedly used a portion of the received funds to invest $150,000 in a movie production.
Following the conviction, Baver’s sentencing is scheduled for October 30 before U.S. District Court Judge Jill N. Parrish at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
Baver is a native of Sinking Spring and graduated from Wilson High School. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was part of the bronze medal-winning 3000m short track speed skating relay team for the United States.
After her athletic career, she pursued work in the entertainment industry. She appeared as a stand-in for 6 episodes of Season 3 of Yellowstone.
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