According to federal prosecutors, over 100 individuals have been accused with embezzling a total of $100 million from COVID relief programs.
If a business was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it was a pizza joint, barbershop, or ice cream shop, the owner may apply for a federal loan of up to $2 million under the Economic Injury Disaster program to cover expenses like rent, utilities, and salaries.
“I think it’s galling,” U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg stated, “the fact that individuals would take advantage of this unprecedented pandemic to line their own pockets.”
One such instance, according to Handberg, is Barrett Purvis, 54, of Tampa, who obtained $500,000 in loans purportedly for his marketing business but spent it on credit cards and gambling within two weeks.
“You would think, who would take advantage of a disaster fraud?” Handberg stated. “And that’s what we see is, we see individuals who take advantage of it, because they see that opportunity.”
Purvis is one of 109 individuals charged in Florida’s Middle District with misusing six COVID-era assistance programs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa said Tuesday.
A total of sixty-one people are charged with embezzling funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. 22 of them are accused of making fraudulent unemployment insurance claims, and 30 of them, including Purvis, are accused of tapping the EIDL program.
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“A lot of people needed this money and a lot of people submitted legitimate requests for both as individuals and businesses,” Handberg stated.
Handberg’s agency has prosecuted 109 cases in which recipients are accused of stealing $96 million. While the remaining prosecutions are still pending, seventy-four have been found guilty.
On accusations of wire fraud and money laundering, Purvis is incarcerated for three years.
