St. Louis Woman Accused of Defrauding Government for $177,000 Using Pandemic Tax Credits; St. Louis Man Indicted for Allegedly Defrauding Federal COVID-19 Relief Programs of Over $20K , and other C-Virus related stories
St. Louis Woman Accused of Defrauding Government for $177,000 Using Pandemic Tax Credits:
A St. Louis woman has found herself at the center of serious legal trouble, accused of defrauding the government out of $177,000 by exploiting pandemic-era tax credits. According to a recent indictment, 33-year-old Ayana J. Brown stands charged with two felony counts of theft of government property related to false claims made under the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) program. The indictment was handed down on February 20, and yesterday, Brown turned herself in, pleading not guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The case details allege that Brown falsely reported on two quarterly employment tax returns filed on December 22, 2022, that her company, Yaya Flowtiques LLC, had five employees and paid significant wages in the first two quarters of 2021. Turned in to the IRS, these forms garnered two U.S. Treasury checks totaling $177,000, sent fraudulently to Brown’s address. This was despite Yaya Flowtiques not having any employees during that period, according to the indictment.
The ERC aimed to incentivize businesses to keep workers on the payroll during the hard economic times brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. To qualify for the credit, businesses had to either be impacted by a shutdown order, experience a sharp decline in gross receipts, or be a recovery startup business that met certain conditions, one of which being the payment of qualified wages. —>READ MORE HERE
St. Louis Man Indicted for Allegedly Defrauding Federal COVID-19 Relief Programs of Over $20K:
A St. Louis man, Cortney Merritts, 46, was indicted on wire fraud charges after allegedly defrauding the federal government for more than $20,000. The indictment, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, claims Merritts filed fraudulent applications for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan and paycheck programs designed to assist businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The applications, submitted in 2020 and 2021, falsely asserted that Merritts’ moving business, “Vetted Couriers,” and another sole proprietorship under his name were significantly larger and more profitable than they were in reality. The charges include his attempting to receive additional funds after the SBA rejected one of his applications for being too similar to an earlier one. Despite this setback, Merritts was able to secure funds fraudulently on other occasions.
Delving into the indictment’s details, Merritts collected an $8,500 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in July 2020. He had certified that “Vetted Couriers” had six employees and earned $32,000 in gross revenue the prior year. The following day, Merritts submitted another EIDL loan application, claiming a business with ten employees and $53,000 in gross revenue. According to officials, the SBA identified inconsistencies and rejected the second application. READ MORE HERE
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