{"id":1359938,"date":"2022-03-05T06:13:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T11:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1359938"},"modified":"2022-03-05T11:22:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T16:22:37","slug":"two-charged-with-running-alleged-3-3-million-fraudulent-covid-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-charged-with-running-alleged-3-3-million-fraudulent-covid-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Charged With Running Alleged $3.3 Million \u2018Fraudulent\u2019 COVID Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Ftwo-charged-with-running-alleged-3-3-million-fraudulent-covid-scheme%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=1359938&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:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1207622334.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Two New Jersey residents who allegedly obtained nearly $3.3 million in coronavirus relief fund payouts and bought properties in Texas are being charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as the government continues to crack down on federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Jean E. Rabbitt, 51, allegedly submitted fraudulent PPP applications for four of her businesses, with fraudulent payroll records and tax records. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), however, told the DOJ that none of the tax records submitted for the funds were ever filed with the agency.<\/p>\n<p>After receiving about $3.3 million, Rabbitt allegedly had Kevin Aguilar, also 51, create \u201csham payroll companies,\u201d a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdicoig.gov\/press-release\/former-monmouth-county-residents-charged-33-million-paycheck-protection-program-fraud\">press release<\/a> stated. Checks were written from businesses operated by Rabbitt to her other businesses, followed by the two allegedly transferring money to companies created by Aguilar. The then-Monmouth County, New Jersey, residents used the money to buy properties in Sherman, Texas, and \u201cpay for personal expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rabbitt is being charged with bank fraud, while the two are being charged with conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRabbitt also made false and fraudulent statements and used falsified and fraudulent documents in support of applications for forgiveness of certain of the PPP loans,\u201d the justice department said. \u201cBased on Rabbitt\u2019s false and fraudulent certifications and documents, the SBA paid more than $2 million dollars to lenders in connection with the fraudulent PPP loans Rabbitt obtained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Counts of \u201cconspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison,\u201d the press release stated. Each count of bank fraud carries a 30-year maximum prison sentence, accompanied by a $1 million fine.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ has continued to fight COVID relief fraud through its enforcement task force established in May 2021. The program has been rife with fraud, with one <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3906395\">report<\/a> from August 2021 claiming 15% of loans given out were fraudulent. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday evening during his State of the Union address that the DOJ will appoint a chief prosecutor for coronavirus-related fraud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna go after the criminals who stole billions of relief money meant for small business and millions of Americans,\u201d the president said.\u00a0The White House said the agents will \u201cuse state-of-the-art data analytics tools\u201d to follow identity fraud and schemes in connection with PPP.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Secret Service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.secretservice.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/2021\/12\/us-secret-service-names-national-pandemic-fraud-recovery-coordinator\">announced<\/a> in December 2021 it had appointed a senior official, Roy Dotson, to be the National Pandemic Fraud Recovery Coordinator. That same month, the agency also said investigations have led to the seizing of more than $1.2 billion in illegally obtained money and $2.3 billion being returned through Automated Clearing House reversals.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ declined The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-p8ym73\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two New Jersey residents who allegedly obtained nearly $3.3 million in coronavirus relief fund payouts and bought properties in Texas are being charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)<\/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-1359938","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\/1359938","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=1359938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359938\/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=1359938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1359938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1359938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}