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$400K PPP Loan Scheme By CEO At PA Tax Prep Company Federally Indicted: DOJ $400K PPP Loan Scheme By CEO At PA Tax Prep Company Federally Indicted: DOJ
$400K PPP Loan Scheme By CEO At PA Tax Prep Company Federally Indicted: DOJ The CEO of a Pennsylvania tax preparation company is accused of orchestrating a $400,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud scheme and destroying evidence to obstruct a federal investigation, prosecutors announced on Thursday, March 20. Dommonick T. Chatman, 49, of York, was indicted on 20 counts of bank fraud and one count of destroying records in a federal probe, according to Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus. Chatman is the CEO of *The Chatman Group LLC*, a financial services and tax preparation business based in York. Federal officials say he submitted—or directed employ…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ
Pennsylvania Man Helped Funnel $1.5M In Pandemic Fraud To Overseas Criminals: DOJ A Pennsylvania man who acted as a "money mule" in a massive pandemic fraud scheme that funneled more than $1.5 million in stolen relief funds to overseas criminals will spend more than three years behind bars, federal officials announced. James G. Miller Jr., 53, of Scranton, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the wire fraud operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a release on Monday, March 3. Investigators say Miller helped move stolen pandemic aid—including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Lost Wage Assistance Paymen…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
$44M COVID Tax Scheme: 7 Nabbed In Largest US Case Ever $44M COVID Tax Scheme: 7 Nabbed In Largest US Case Ever
$44M COVID Tax Scheme: 7 Nabbed In Largest US Case Ever Seven New Yorkers have been charged in a sweeping tax fraud scheme, accused of exploiting pandemic relief programs to steal over $44 million, federal prosecutors announced. The indictment by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, unsealed Wednesday, Jan. 22, alleges that the defendants filed over 8,000 fraudulent tax returns, seeking more than $600 million in COVID-19 relief funds through the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and related programs. Investigators determined the group successfully secured $44 million from the federal government. Defendants Long Island …

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by Joe Lombardi
Sports
Ex-Eagles Player Wendell Smallwood Jr. Pleads Guilty To COVID-19, Tax Fraud Ex-Eagles Player Wendell Smallwood Jr. Pleads Guilty To COVID-19, Tax Fraud
Ex-Eagles Player Wendell Smallwood Jr. Pleads Guilty To Covid-19, Tax Fraud Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr., of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, a Super Bowl champion, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the IRS on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Wilmington, Delaware, according to federal court documents obtained by Daily Voice. The plea agreement outlines Smallwood's admission of guilt to defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and engaging in tax fraud schemes. Smallwood, 30, faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison and significant financial penalties, including resti…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Owner of PA Restaurant Gets Prison Time For Defrauding COVID Programs: Authorities Owner of PA Restaurant Gets Prison Time For Defrauding COVID Programs: Authorities
Owner of PA Restaurant Gets Prison Time For Defrauding COVID Programs: Authorities The owner of a Montgomery County Italian restaurant is getting prison time for defrauding several federal COVID-19 relief programs, authorities said. Giuseppina “Josephine” Leone, 62, of North Wales, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and one year of supervised release on Tuesday, Oct. 22, the US Department of Justice said in a news release. She must also pay a $50,000 fine and a $300 special assessment for pandemic program fraud, the news release states. Leone has also paid full restitution in the amount of $972,861. Her request for a sentence involving an alternative to jail time was de…

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by Merriell Moyer
News
$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
News
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
Police & Fire
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
News
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
News
Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief
Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief A Sussex County scammer identified people who’d been dead for years as business partners to help collect $1.9 million from the federal fund established to help struggling companies during COVID-19, authorities charged. John Jhong, 51, of Sparta, also submitted phony IRS documents with bogus Paycheck Protection Program applications to the lenders on behalf of 10 purported businesses, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Jhong converted a portion of the money intended for distressed businesses into a cashier’s check “that was used to fund a business account,” Honig said. Congress a ye…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
President Biden Talks COVID-19 Relief Package During Visit To Black-Owned PA Business President Biden Talks COVID-19 Relief Package During Visit To Black-Owned PA Business
President Biden Talks Covid-19 Relief Package During Visit To Black-Owned PA Business President Joe Biden visited a small business in Delaware County Tuesday afternoon to discuss the recent COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress. Biden made a stop at Smith Flooring, a Black-owned union-operated business on Townsend Street in Chester around 3:30 p.m, 6abc says. Smith Flooring received Paycheck Protection Program loans and qualifies for additional programs under the American Rescue Plan, according to a statement released by White House officials. The company received its second PPP loan during the Biden-Harris administration’s two-week exclusive period for small business…

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by Nicole Acosta