CINCINNATI — A woman who once pursued candidacy for mayor of Cincinnati and other public offices will now spend seven years in prison after she was convicted of fraud crimes tied to her misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.
Kelli Prather, 52, was previously a candidate for mayor in 2021 and attempted runs for city council, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, Ohio Auditor of State and the U.S. Senate. She was convicted in July 2023 on 14 counts after officials said she applied for six Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans as part of pandemic relief.
Federal prosecutors said Prather fraudulently requested more than $1.2 million in PPP loans; while she only received around $19,700 of those requested funds, court documents said Prather spent more than $8,000 of what she did receive on non-business expenses at places like Kroger, Staples, Krispy Kreme, AAA Car Wash and Park Place restaurant in Forest Park.
Prather is also facing additional charges in Hamilton County. She was indicted in November on four counts related to tampering with records and election falsification; if convicted on all counts, she could face up to three years in prison.
According to Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers, Prather submitted petitions during a 2021 Senate run in order to appear on the ballot for that election.
Powers said of the 5,619 signatures provided by Prather, 4,579 were found to be invalid. Of the 192 petition sheets filed with the board of elections, 74 of those contained zero valid signatures.
The board of elections then investigated the petitions further, finding that six signatures had addresses for abandoned buildings, Powers said.
Some petitions also were completely full of signatures that were blatantly written with the same handwriting.
"It is shocking that a self-proclaimed community leader would engage in such blatant fraud relating to our elections," Powers said.
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