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Covid-19: Ex-NY Jet Sentenced For Bogus $1.2M Relief Loan

Former NY Jet Josh Bellamy was sentenced to prison time for fraudulently claiming more than $1.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds that he spent on luxury items and a Hard Rock Hotel stay, federal prosecutors said.

Josh Bellamy

Josh Bellamy

Photo Credit: Josh Bellamy Instagram highlight

The 32-year-old Florida resident was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison last Friday, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, court papers show. The former NFL athlete also must pay restitution.

Bellamy obtained a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $1.2 million for his company, Drip Entertainment LLC, under bogus documents and false information, court documents show. He used the loan on a stay at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and luxury items, he later admitted.

Bellamy had signed a $5 million deal for two years on the Jets in 2019. He played seven games before suffering a shoulder injury, and was placed on the reserve/physically unable to play list in September 2020 -- days before his arrest.

In part of the same scheme, Yashica Bain, 38, also of Florida, on Dec. 9 was sentenced to two years in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining a PPP loan.

Bain pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Sept. 30 to fraudulently obtaining at nearly $415,200 loan for her company, Microblading Brow Studio LLC. 

She used the loan proceeds to enrich herself and others who never worked for her company, and falsely described those payments as “payroll” and “wages” to perpetrate this fraud, federal prosecutors said. 

Bain admitted that she paid more than $28,000 to James Stote -- a co-conspirator of Bellamy's -- as a kickback for his assistance in preparing and submitting the bogus loan application, authorities said. 

In addition to her prison sentence, Bain was ordered to serve three years of supervised released and pay $415,232 in restitution and $415,232 in forfeiture.   

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