Elaine Angene Escoe walked out of her Palm Beach County home on June 3, 2025, and hasn’t been seen since. Two days later, she was supposed to appear in federal court to face charges of stealing $34 million from pandemic relief programs. She never showed up.
Now the FBI wants to know where she went.
The 40-year-old Delray Beach resident is the subject of a federal manhunt that has stretched for more than seven months. Investigators believe she may have fled to Jamaica, where she was born and still maintains connections. A federal arrest warrant was issued on May 22, 2025, charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, and multiple counts of money laundering.
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How the Scheme Worked
Between May 2020 and November 2021, Escoe and five others submitted more than 90 applications for federal COVID relief funds, according to prosecutors. They targeted four different programs created to help businesses survive the pandemic: the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
The applications contained false information about employee numbers, payroll costs, and business revenues. To make the lies look real, the group submitted fabricated bank statements and fake IRS tax documents.
The government approved the applications. Over the next year and a half, $29.1 million in PPP loans, $1.2 million in restaurant relief funds, and $3.8 million in venue grants flowed into accounts controlled by the group.
What happened next is what turned an alleged fraud into an alleged money laundering operation. Prosecutors say Escoe and her co-defendants moved the money between themselves and businesses they controlled. They withdrew large sums as cash. They used blank checks with pre-signed signatures to hide the paper trail.
A Pattern of Fraud
Escoe was no stranger to federal court when she disappeared. In January 2024, she had been arrested on the COVID fraud charges and released on a $25,000 bond. While that case was pending, federal prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale brought separate charges against her.
In May 2024, a jury convicted her of wire fraud for submitting altered bank statements to get a business line of credit. She had changed the documents to hide the real account name and inflate the cash balances. The conviction carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Judge Melissa Damian sentenced Escoe on August 23, 2024. While court records show the case terminated that day, the specific sentence has not been publicly disclosed.
Throughout this time, Escoe remained free on bond in the larger COVID fraud case. Her trial date approached. Then she vanished.
The Other Defendants
Five others were charged alongside Escoe in the COVID relief fraud indictment:
Alfred L. Davis, 51
Gino J. Jourdan, 37
Cher L. Davis, 53
Latoya T. Clark, 39
James G. McGhow, 69
Each faces the same charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of wire fraud and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property. The wire fraud charges carry up to 20 years in prison. The money laundering charges carry up to 10 years.
The Search Continues
The FBI describes Escoe as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing between 140 and 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She has tattoos on her left wrist, abdomen, back, and right shoulder. She goes by the nicknames “Annie” and “Annie Palmer.”
Federal agents consider her a flight risk. Her ties to Jamaica make international travel a real possibility, though investigators have not confirmed whether she left the United States.
The FBI Miami Field Office is leading the search through its West Palm Beach Resident Agency, with help from Homeland Security Investigations. Anyone with information can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit tips online at tips.fbi.gov.
Why This Case Matters
The Escoe case is one piece of a much larger problem. When Congress created emergency relief programs in 2020, it prioritized speed over verification. Businesses needed help immediately, and the government delivered. Fraudsters saw an opportunity.
Federal prosecutors have now charged thousands of people with pandemic relief fraud. The Justice Department has recovered billions of dollars. But cases like this one, where a defendant disappears before trial, show how some alleged fraudsters planned their escape routes from the beginning.
Seven months after Elaine Angene Escoe walked out of her home in Palm Beach County, the question remains: where did $34 million go, and where is she now? The FBI is still looking for answers.
