More Than 100 Suspects Charged for Stealing from COVID Relief Programs by Federal Prosecutors; Northwest Louisiana Businessman Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering, and other C-Virus related stories
More than 100 suspects charged for stealing from COVID relief programs by federal prosecutors:
Federal prosecutors said more than 100 people have now been charged with stealing from COVID relief programs to the tune of a combined $100 million.
Whether it was a barber shop, an ice cream parlor or a pizza place, if a business was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, the owner could apply for a federal loan of up to $2 million under the Economic Injury Disaster program to pay for things like salaries, rent and utilities.
“I think it’s galling,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg, “the fact that individuals would take advantage of this unprecedented pandemic to line their own pockets.”
Handberg said one example is Barrett Purvis, 54, of Tampa, who got $500,000 in loans supposedly for his marketing company, only to spend it within two weeks on gambling and credit cards.
“You would think, who would take advantage of a disaster fraud?” said Handberg. “And that’s what we see is, we see individuals who take advantage of it, because they see that opportunity.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa announced on Tuesday that Purvis is one of 109 people who have been prosecuted in Florida’s Middle District for abusing six COVID-era relief programs.
Sixty-one are accused of siphoning money from the Paycheck Protection Program. Thirty of them, like Purvis, are accused of tapping the EIDL program, and 22 are accused of filing false claims of unemployment insurance. —>READ MORE HERE
Northwest Louisiana businessman pleads guilty to money laundering:
A Northwest Louisiana businessman will face up to 10 years in prison after using Employee Retention Credits to pay personal expenses, including gambling debts.
Brian T. Owen, 52, of Caddo Parish, Louisiana, pleaded guilty yesterday to money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A Bill of Information was filed on September 30, 2024, charging Owen with one count of money laundering after an investigation conducted by state and federal law enforcement agencies into Owen’s unlawful activities as president of an oilfield consulting service business headquartered in Bossier City.
On June 22, 2020, the company filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
In January 2021, as part of the company’s bankruptcy plan of reorganization, a Distribution Trust was established to pay back creditors, and Owen executed a Distribution Trust Agreement as president of the company. According to this plan, if Owen received any additional compensation from the company, he was required to pay 30% of that directly to the Distribution Trust. —>READ MORE HERE
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