{"id":1306537,"date":"2022-02-17T08:17:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T13:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1306537"},"modified":"2022-02-17T13:22:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T18:22:48","slug":"twin-brothers-ran-1m-covid-19-scheme-bought-camaro-and-crypto-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/twin-brothers-ran-1m-covid-19-scheme-bought-camaro-and-crypto-doj\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin Brothers Ran $1M COVID-19 Scheme, Bought Camaro And Crypto: DOJ"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftwin-brothers-ran-1m-covid-19-scheme-bought-camaro-and-crypto-doj%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1306537&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1294383439-1.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Twin brothers in Maryland are facing federal charges for allegedly obtaining payouts totaling more than $1 million in COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits and loans with which they used to buy a 2020 Camaro and trade cryptocurrency, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n<p>Jerry Phillips and Jaleel Philips, both 24, are the targets of a federal complaint filed in court. Both are being accused of wire fraud, while Jerry is also accused of aggravated identity theft. The brothers appeared Wednesday in the United States District Court of Greenbelt, Maryland. They&nbsp;face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted for wire fraud.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint was announced by U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland, as well as officials in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Department of Labor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdicoig.gov\/press-release\/twin-brothers-facing-federal-charges-allegedly-obtaining-over-1-million-covid-19-loans\">according<\/a> to a DOJ press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to the criminal complaint, IP addresses linked to Jaleel and Jerry Phillips were used to submit fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster loan applications (EIDL), and unemployment insurance claims resulting in $1 million in received funds,\u201d the presser said. \u201cAs stated in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the Phillips brothers allegedly created fictitious aliases, used the personal identifying information of real people, and used out of business or fake corporate entities to apply for EIDL and PPP loans, and unemployment benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The federal complaint also alleges that the Philips brothers made email and financial account aliases with state social security numbers, birth dates, and driver\u2019s licenses. It is alleged that a car was purchased after illegally obtaining the PPP funds, as well as furniture and other items, and that the brothers moved money between bank accounts that were through the aliases\u2019 names.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Merrick Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/attorney-general-announces-task-force-combat-covid-19-fraud\">announced<\/a> a COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021 to address fraud related to the pandemic and government handouts. A day before the Phillips brothers appeared in court, three men were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdicoig.gov\/press-release\/three-men-sentenced-27-million-covid-19-relief-fraud-scheme\">sentenced<\/a> in North Carolina for a $2.7 million relief fund scheme, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n<p>There has been large-scale fraud involved with coronavirus-related assistance. In one of the most significant cases, two Florida men crafted a $35 million scheme and pleaded guilty in December. The men <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/florida\/two-south-florida-men-plead-guilty-in-35m-covid-scam\/article_1c543248-5f90-11ec-9a8e-0f8e8e5cff52.html\">recruited<\/a> other loan applicants, resulting in more than two dozen being charged.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly two years after the government approved aid totaling more than $6 trillion, the U.S. government is now tasked with accounting for where the funds ended up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManaging COVID-19 stimulus lending is the greatest overall challenge facing SBA, and it may likely continue to be for many years as the agency grapples with fraud in the programs, particularly in the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the process of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness,\u201d U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General Hannibal \u201cMike\u201d Ware <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbusiness.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/01-12-22_mr._ware_testimony.pdf\">said<\/a> in testimony last month before the House\u2019s committee on small business.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-j7qwjs\">\n<div id=\"post-body-text\">\n<div class=\"e1nzmkc90 css-1s0j25g\">\n<p><em>The Daily Wire\u2019s first original film, Shut In, has made its cinematic debut, being met with rave reviews. The Daily Wire is building an alternative to the leftist entertainment industry, one gripping movie at a time. Join us in this mission and stream Shut In today by becoming a Daily Wire&nbsp;<a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twin brothers in Maryland are facing federal charges for allegedly obtaining payouts totaling more than $1 million in COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits and loans with which they used to buy &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1306537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1306537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1306537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1306537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1306537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}