Reports

An indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Florida charging three men for their alleged roles in an approximately $36 million health care fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering scheme that involved submitting false and fraudulent claims for COVID-19 testing to health care benefit programs, including Medicare and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

SAN DIEGO – Shawn Brown, an inmate at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, was sentenced in federal court today to 30 months in prison for bribing a state corrections officer to smuggle contraband into prison, including dental molds and an expensive bejeweled “grill” for the inmate’s mouth.

A Florida attorney has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for participating in a scheme to illegally obtain funding from a federal COVID-19 small business relief program.

NEWARK, NJ. – Two New York men today admitted conspiring with others to defraud dozens of states to obtain millions of dollars of COVID-19 unemployment benefits; one of the defendants also admitted to fentanyl conspiracy and distribution and conspiring to defraud the IRS of tax credit benefits.

Camille Foster admitted obtaining five Paycheck Protection Program loans for a total of $104,163.

BOSTON – A Brockton man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for a scheme to submit false applications to obtain Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) funds through the Small Business Administration (SBA) that were made available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

A Louisiana woman pleaded guilty today to theft of public money in connection with a scheme to misappropriate over $780,000 from the Provider Relief Fund (PRF), a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus man who estimated he filed more than 3,000 fraudulent COVID-relief applications was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 72 months in prison.

“At the height of the COVID pandemic, Liu and Rodriguez brazenly fabricated vaccine cards and sold them for profit, thereby putting the safety of others at risk during this deadly health crisis” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This prosecution demonstrates our Office’s ongoing commitment to holding accountable those who engaged in COVID-19 fraud. These prison sentences should deter other lawbreakers who put their own interests above public health.”