Feds Bust $28M Pandemic Loan-Fraud Ring After Tip On South Florida Liquor Store Owner; Utah Plastic Surgeon Sold Fake COVID Vaccine Cards for $97,000: Feds, and other C-Virus related stories

By admin On Jan 23, 2023

Feds bust $28M pandemic loan-fraud ring after tip on South Florida liquor store owner:

At the height of the coronavirus outbreak, a South Florida man charged with drug dealing applied for and received a $250,000 federal government loan for his liquor store that was supposed to be for businesses struggling during the pandemic.

His bogus application tipped off federal investigators to what would turn out to be a $28 million fraud ring run by a Broward County tax preparer who submitted a pile of phony Paycheck Protection Program loan applications that were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.

Now, the tax preparer, Wally Dorlus, 41, of Margate, and his recruits, Marcgenson Marc, 37, of Coconut Creek, Edward Moise, 45, of Coral Springs, and Roberto Geronimo, 40, of Miami Gardens, are serving various prison terms after pleading guilty to fraud charges.

Marc was sentenced on Friday to one year and three months in prison. Dorlus, the ringleader, was previously sentenced to four years; Moise to one and a half years; and Geronimo to nearly six years. Geronimo’s term also included punishment for his conviction on drug-conspiracy charges.

According to factual statements filed with their plea deals, Dorlus played the lead role of the tax preparer who, in exchange for kickbacks, filed approximately 170 fraudulent PPP loan applications. Dorlus admitted that he fabricated the number of employees, payroll expenses, and gross revenues on the applications to qualify for the loans seeking more than $28 million for his companies and more than 100 others. —>READ MORE HERE

Utah plastic surgeon sold fake COVID vaccine cards for $97,000: feds:

A Utah plastic surgeon took bribes from anti-vax parents to dole out fake COVID-19 jabs while destroying tens of thousands of dollars worth of real medicine, prosecutors allege.

Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr. allegedly injected some children with saline shots before sending them off with fake vaccination cards, Utah’s US State Attorney’s Office said.

Moore was indicted by a grand jury last week, along with two of his staffers and a neighbor who allegedly helped him carry out the plot.

“By allegedly falsifying vaccine cards and administering saline shots to children instead of COVID-19 vaccines, not only did this provider endanger the health and well-being of a vulnerable population, but also undermined public trust and the integrity of federal health care programs,” Curt L. Muller of the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

The foursome allegedly used Moore’s Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc. office to run the scheme after Moore was authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give out vaccinations.