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| AP Photo/Eric Gay, File |
The Justice Department announced fraud charges Tuesday against five current or former IRS employees in Tennessee whom prosecutors say stole money from the government’s pandemic relief programs.
One federal official said the fact that IRS employees were involved showed the “brazenness with which bad actors have taken advantage” of the trillions of dollars the government made available during the public health emergency.
The employees are all based around Memphis. Three have already reached plea agreements with authorities admitting to their activities, while the other two employees have been indicted.
“These individuals — acting out of pure greed — abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed it,” said Kevin G. Ritz, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, where the cases were all brought.
Hannibal “Mike” Ware, the inspector general at the Small Business Administration, which administered the loan programs, called the involvement of IRS employees in COVID fraud “especially egregious.”
Each of the five has been charged separately.
The biggest case is for Brian Saulsberry, 46, who is charged with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. Prosecutors say he applied for more than $500,000 in pandemic loans and walked away with $171,400. They said he spent some of the money on car payments for a Mercedes-Benz and put other cash into an investment account.
Fatina Hewitt, 35, admitted to making up information about companies she controlled to apply for nearly $340,000 in pandemic loans. Several of her requests were blocked, but she did end up collecting about $29,000. She used the money for a trip to Las Vegas and a Gucci shopping spree. --->READ MORE HERE
A suburban New York school district has barred patients of a former nurse practitioner who pleaded guilty to running a fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination card scheme.
The move by school officials in the Long Island hamlet of Plainedge comes nearly three years after Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and an employee were charged with forging vaccination cards and pocketing more than $1.5 million from the scheme.
When DeVuono was arrested in January 2022, prosecutors said she was handing out fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and charging $220 for adults and $85 for children. Officers said they found $900,000 in cash when they searched DeVuono's home.
DeVuono pleaded guilty to money laundering and forgery in September 2023 and was sentenced in June to 840 hours of community service where she now lives in Pennsylvania.
She said after her sentencing that she believed front-line workers had the right to refuse vaccines. "If those people feared the vaccine more than they feared getting COVID, anybody in our society has the right to decide for themselves,” DeVuono said. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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