{"id":1487720,"date":"2022-05-22T18:45:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T22:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1487720"},"modified":"2022-05-22T18:45:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T22:45:34","slug":"power-rangers-star-austin-st-john-arrested-as-part-of-covid-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/power-rangers-star-austin-st-john-arrested-as-part-of-covid-fraud-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Power Rangers\u2019 Star Austin St. John Arrested As Part Of COVID Fraud 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\">26<\/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%2Fpower-rangers-star-austin-st-john-arrested-as-part-of-covid-fraud-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=1487720&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\/05\/GettyImages-872744926.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A beloved 1990s star was arrested this week in connection with an alleged COVID-19 fraud scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Austin St. John, who starred as the Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott in \u201cMighty Morphin Power Rangers,\u201d was arrested Thursday in connection with a scheme that allegedly defrauded some $3.5 million in COVID-19 related funds from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. St. John, whose real name is Jason Lawrence Geiger, was one of 18 individuals arrested as part of the suspected fraud ring.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2022\/05\/20\/red-power-ranger-arrested-charged-fraud-fbi-raid\/?adid=social-twa\">TMZ<\/a>, approximately 15 FBI agents arrived at St. John\u2019s home in McKinney, Texas, at around 7 o\u2019clock Thursday morning. The agents entered St. John\u2019s home, brandishing rifles, and walked out with the 47-year-old actor in handcuffs. The <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/22\/power-ranger-actor-actor-jason-lawrence-geiger-busted-in-covid-relief-scheme\/\">New York Post<\/a> reported that the fraud ring was allegedly spearheaded by Michael Lewayne \u201cTank\u201d Hill and Andrew Charles Moran. A grand jury in the federal Eastern District of Texas indicted the 18 individuals on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edtx\/pr\/18-arrested-charged-east-texas-paycheck-protection-program-related-fraud\">Department of Justice<\/a> named St. John as one of the defendants ordered by the grand jury to appear before a magistrate judge, complete with his iconic role:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Jason Lawrence Geiger, a\/k\/a Austin St. John a\/k\/a the Red Power Ranger, 47, of McKinney<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201c[The] defendants\u2026 are alleged to have executed a scheme to defraud lenders and the Small Business Administration\u2019s (SBA\u2019s) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP),\u201d The DOJ said. \u201cHill is alleged to have recruited co-conspirators to use an existing business or create a business to submit applications to obtain PPP funding.\u00a0 Once enlisted, Moran is alleged to have assisted his co-conspirators with the application paperwork, including fabricating supporting documentation and submitting the application through the online portals.\u00a0 On the applications, the defendants are alleged to have misrepresented material information such as the true nature of their business, the number of employees, and the amount of payroll.\u00a0 Based on these material misrepresentations, the SBA and other financial institutions approved and issued loans to the defendants. Once in receipt of the fraudulently obtained funds, the defendants did not use the money as intended, such as to pay employee salaries, cover fixed debt or utility payments, or continue health care benefits for employees.\u00a0 Instead, the defendants typically paid Hill and Moran, transferred money to their personal accounts, and spent the funds on various personal purchases.\u00a0 In other instances, the defendants sent the fraudulently obtained funds to [defendant] Jonathon Spencer for purported investment in foreign exchange markets.\u00a0 In total, the defendants are alleged to have fraudulently obtained at least 16 loans and at least $3.5 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If convicted, each of the 18 individuals faces up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n<section id=\"cb-57bbf348167ffc8cb0d675b5d2df9489\" class=\"canvas-block canvas-block-permalink canvas-text-block canvas-text-block-permalink canvas-text-block--default updated\" data-context=\"{\" section>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ASJAustin\/status\/1527717367790305282\">statement<\/a> posted to his Twitter account Saturday, St. John\u2019s agent Zachery McGinnis said that St. John\u2019s involvement in the alleged scheme was tenuous, and expressed optimism that the actor would be exonerated. \u201cThe indictment detailed today is populated by a multitude of individuals \u2014 the majority of which Austin has no knowledge of, and has never met or interacted with,\u201d McGinnis wrote. \u201cIt is our understanding that Austin put his faith, reputation and finances in the hands of third parties whose goals were self-centered and ultimately manipulated and betrayed his trust. We expect Austin\u2019s legal team to successfully defend against these charges and lead to his ultimate exoneration.\u201d<\/section>\n<p>St. John rose to fame for his role as Jason, the Red Power Ranger and leader of the titular \u201cMighty Morphin Power Rangers,\u201d beginning in 1993. He held the role for two seasons of the children\u2019s action show, as well as a feature-length movie based on the series, which premiered in theaters in 1995. St. John reprised the role of Jason in the sequel series, \u201cPower Rangers Zeo,\u201d and has made appearances in several episodes of subsequent series in the\u00a0<em>Power Rangers\u00a0<\/em>franchise.<\/p>\n<p>St. John is not the first Red Ranger to be fitted for an orange jumpsuit. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/newsbeat-39452035\">Ricardo Medina, Jr.<\/a>, who played Red Ranger Cole Evans in \u201cPower Rangers Wild Force,\u201d was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for stabbing his roommate with a sword. Medina was sentenced to 6 years in prison, but has since been released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A beloved 1990s star was arrested this week in connection with an alleged COVID-19 fraud scheme.Austin St. John, who starred as the Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott in \u201cMighty Morphin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":1487733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487720","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\/1487720","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\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1487733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}