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Ex-Eagles RB Superbowl Champ Wendell Smallwood Jr. Charged With COVID-19, Tax Fraud: Feds Ex-Eagles RB Superbowl Champ Wendell Smallwood Jr. Charged With COVID-19, Tax Fraud: Feds
Ex-Eagles RB Superbowl Champ Wendell Smallwood Jr. Charged With Covid-19, Tax Fraud: Feds Wendell Smallwood Jr., a former Philadelphia Eagles running back and Super Bowl champion, is facing federal charges for allegedly defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and the IRS, according to federal court documents obtained by Daily Voice on Thursday, Nov. 21. Smallwood, 30, was charged with felonies for Wire Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, and Conspiracy to Defraud the Internal Revenue Service, federal prosecutors announced. If convicted on all counts, Smallwood faces up to 50 years in prison. Authorities claim Smallwood obtained tens of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 Economic I…

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by Jillian Pikora
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$6.8M COVID-19 Scam: Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Gets 4+ Years, No Parole $6.8M COVID-19 Scam: Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Gets 4+ Years, No Parole
$6.8M Covid-19 Scam: Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Gets 4+ Years, No Parole A dual New York/Florida resident was sentenced in New Jersey to a plea-bargained 51 months in federal prison for fraudulently collecting more than $6.8 million in COVID-19 payroll protection loans -- $3 million of which he lost in the stock market. Gregory J. Blotnick, 35, will have to serve just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti sentenced Blotnick in Newark to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $4,577,631. Blotnick told the judge last f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced
Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced A Sussex County man was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for spending $5.6 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic business loans for himself, authorities said. Azhar Sarwar Rana, 31, of Newton will have to serve out just about all of the 64-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The federal Paycheck Protection Program was designed to keep struggling small businesses afloat during the pandemic. Rana used the money, instead, to invest millions in the stock market, make a payment to a luxury car dealership and send hundreds of thous…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Philly Man Charged With Stealing Nearly $1 Million In PPP Funds Feds: Philly Man Charged With Stealing Nearly $1 Million In PPP Funds
Feds: Philly Man Charged With Stealing Nearly $1 Million In PPP Funds A Philadelphia man was charged with two counts of bank fraud and nine counts of money laundering for stealing nearly $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and using it toward personal purchases, federal authorities said. It is alleged that in June 2020, Devron Brown, 50, received $937,500 in PPP loan proceeds, from a PPP loan application that contained false about his alleged construction business, Just Us Construction Inc., according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. Brown allegedly falsified the number of employees, the wages paid to t…

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by Nicole Acosta
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IRS Roots Out $440M In Fraud In First Year Of Pandemic Assistance, Hunts For More IRS Roots Out $440M In Fraud In First Year Of Pandemic Assistance, Hunts For More
IRS Roots Out $440M In Fraud In First Year Of Pandemic Assistance, Hunts For More Along with the welcome relief brought by the federal Paycheck Protection Program have come scams, more than 350 of which are tax and money laundering crimes that have totaled $440 million over the past year, the IRS says. On what will be the one-year anniversary of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act this Saturday, the service’s top officials pledged to continue rooting out the wrongdoing. “As we continue to navigate through this pandemic, businesses and families continue to struggle through financial hardships,” said Michael Montanez, the special agent in charge o…

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by Jerry DeMarco