Reports

BOSTON – Two individuals have been sentenced in federal court in Boston for their roles in a multi-state scheme to obtain millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for themselves and others through the submission of dozens of fraudulent applications to PPP lenders.

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Evan Graves (40, Alva) to 18 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud in connection with a $1.35 million COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. The court also ordered Graves to forfeit approximately $1,355,600 and five Fort Myers properties he purchased or funded using proceeds of his fraud. Graves entered a guilty plea on December 13, 2023.

NEWARK, N.J. – W City Medical of the Upper East Side PLLC, Summit Medical Group P.A., Summit Health Management LLC and Village Practice Management Company LLC, which collectively do business as “CityMD,” and manage and operate approximately 177 urgent care practices in New Jersey and New York, have agreed to pay $12.04 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting or causing the submission of false claims for payment for COVID-19 testing to a Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) program for uninsured patients.

On June 5, a federal jury in Miami convicted a Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) deputy of conspiracy to defraud the Small Business Administration (SBA), two counts of false statements to the SBA, and wire fraud, all in relation to her COVID-19 relief fraud scheme.

COLUMBIA, S.C. —Michael Eugene Bowers, 51, of Columbia, has pleaded guilty to fraud related to COVID benefits.

The OIG is issuing this evaluation to assess whether the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effectively implemented internal controls when using the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Do Not Pay (DNP) databases to detect and prevent payments of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and grants to ineligible entities.Despite implementing controls requiring loan officers to check DNP databases prior to approval of COVID-19 EIDLs and provide applicants 30 days to rectify any negative information received from DNP, the agency continued to award and disburse...

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging David Godin, a/k/a “James St Patrick,” a/k/a “David Wetty,” a/k/a “Vic Pro” for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme to defraud the Maryland Department of Labor (“MD-DOL”) and California Employment Development Department (CA-EDD”) of unemployment insurance (“UI”) benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BOSTON – A Plymouth, Mass. man was sentenced today for his involvement in a COVID-19 relief fund fraud scheme.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Florida man was sentenced to 96 months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar durable medical equipment (DME) kickback scheme.

Merton Weed Jr. filed eight fraudulent PPP loan applications with four different lenders and received $243,745 in PPP funds.