Tampa Republic

A federal jury has found Henry Troy Wade, 47, from Ocala, guilty of six counts of wire fraud. Wade faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each count. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 2025. A federal grand jury had returned an indictment against Wade on November 22, 2022.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) provided loans to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic through Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs). Between April 5, 2020, and March 24, 2021, Wade applied for 11 EIDLs on behalf of five different businesses he claimed to own. Five of these applications were approved and Wade electronically received $524,400 through four loans and two grants.

Wade’s EIDL applications contained multiple factual misrepresentations. He claimed he owned a restaurant, a farm, a child daycare center, and two heating and air conditioning businesses. However, Wade did not have the necessary licenses for any of these types of businesses. Although he listed multiple employees on the EIDL applications, Wade never paid any employment taxes nor registered the business names with the Internal Revenue Service or the Florida Department of Revenue. He also misrepresented his business income by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Nowalk.