Brothers Charged for Stealing Millions of Dollars in COVID-19 Relief Funds
Summary
A Justice Department press release of April 14, 2023 announces an unsealed indictment charging brothers Carl Charles, 43, of Miramar, and Patrick Charles, 41, of Lake Worth, Florida, with fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief loans and advances through the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. According to court documents, from March 2020 through December 2021 the two men and accomplices applied for nearly $5 million in EIDL loans with false statements about the businesses' revenues, creation dates and number of employees, and the SBA disbursed over $2.5 million. Carl Charles is charged with four counts of wire fraud and Patrick Charles with three; each count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. The FBI, TIGTA and SBA-OIG are investigating. The release notes that an indictment is merely an allegation.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Full text
Press Release Brothers Charged for Stealing Millions of Dollars in COVID-19 Relief Funds Friday, April 14, 2023 For Immediate Release Office of Public Affairs An indictment was unsealed today charging two Florida men for fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic relief loans and advances from the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. According to court documents, from March 2020 through December 2021, Carl Charles, 43, of Miramar, and his brother, Patrick Charles, 41, of Lake Worth, together with their accomplices, submitted applications to the SBA for nearly $5 million in EIDL loans, making false statements regarding the businesses’ revenues, creation dates, and number of employees. As a result of the false and fraudulent applications, the SBA disbursed over $2.5 million in loan proceeds and advances to the defendants and others. Carl Charles is charged with four counts of wire fraud and Patrick Charles is charged with three counts of wire fraud. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Mark H. Morini Jr. of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Southern Field Division, and Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General (SBA-OIG) Investigations Division’s Eastern Region made the announcement. The FBI, TIGTA, and SBA-OIG are investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Ariel Glasner and Samad Pardesi of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Snider for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case. In May 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit www.justice.gov/coronavirus . Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form . An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Updated April 14, 2023 Topics Coronavirus Financial Fraud Components Criminal Division Criminal - Criminal Fraud Section Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) USAO - Florida, Southern Press Release Number: 23-413 Related Content Press Release Former Finance Minister of Mozambique Sentenced in $2B Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme The former Finance Minister of Mozambique was sentenced today to 102 months in prison for his role in a $2 billion international fraud, bribery, and money laundering scheme, in which he... January 17, 2025 Press Release Justice Department Recovers an Additional $20M in Misappropriated 1MDB Funds The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement to recover an additional $20 million in misappropriated 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds. In June 2024, the department announced it... January 17, 2025 Press Release Miami-Based Real Estate Broker Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Violate Russia-Ukraine Sanctions and to Commit Money Laundering Miami real estate broker Roman Sinyavsky pleaded guilty today to engaging in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions and commit money laundering by conducting transactions involving blocked properties owned by... January 16, 2025
File and source
- File
- doj-doj-press-release-brothers-charged-stealing-millions-dollars-covid-19-relief-funds-2023-04-14.html
- Size
- 91,998 bytes
- SHA-256
- 5844fd20d8206c1b5c51ba660df45b164658434cb59896436d4e2af5e14119cf
- Original
- www.justice.gov