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A Richmond man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday for schemes to defraud a COVID-19 relief program and steal funds through altered checks.
According to court documents, 26-year-old Davon Hunter used Instagram and word of mouth to get potential co-conspirators to provide their personal information, so that Hunter could submit fraudulent applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a COVID-19 relief program that was intended to provide loans from the Small Business Administration to certain businesses, nonprofit organizations and other entities.
Hunter submitted at least 23 fraudulent PPP loan applications to at least four financial institutions for fake businesses purportedly belonging to himself and 16 other co-conspirators, according to the Department of Justice.
Hunter and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained over $500,000 in PPP loans.
In exchange for preparing the fraudulent loan applications and supplying falsified supporting documents, Hunter demanded 25 to 50% of each loan obtained by the co-conspirators.
When the PPP loan program ended in 2021, the Department of Justice said Hunter turned to “card cracking” — a scheme to defraud financial institutions through the deposit of fraudulently altered stolen checks from small businesses.
Hunter and his co-conspirators recruited at least 16 accountholders to provide their debit cards and personal identification numbers (PINs). --->READ MORE HERE
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A West Palm Beach man was arrested for reportedly swindling over $347,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds back in 2021.
Authorities said Johnley Jorcilien, 32, made up details about his business to secure a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of a federal loan program to assist those suffering financially during the pandemic.
In April 2021, Jorcilien allegedly applied for the relief funds from a lender that loans directly to small businesses and consumers. He claimed the loan was for his used car dealership business called Leaselikenew Autos, LLC, located at 2040 Mears Pkwy. Margate, FL, investigators stated in the probable cause affidavit.
Jorcilien is listed as the sole owner and manager of the company, and in 2020, he added his personal West Palm Beach address as a primary business address -- but his apartment isn't a proper business address, and the company has been listed as inactive since September 2021, according to SunBiz.
He then falsely declared his company had payroll expenses of over $2 million and 19 employees for 2019, the affidavit reported. Jorcilen also asserted in the application that about $140,000 had been withheld from wages for federal income taxes, which is also false, investigators said.
Lastly, he tried to increase the loan payout by submitting what appeared to be fabricated IRS tax forms in support of the application, according to the affidavit. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
Newton County woman pleads guilty to stealing COVID relief funds
Death rates surged for this housing demographic during COVID-19: Study
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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