WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — To combat fraud against the federal government’s paycheck protection program, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg has formed a special task force.
Aronberg is working with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the federal government to find people who stole money from small businesses that was meant to help them stay open during the pandemic.
Aronberg said that some of those people lied about the number of employees and expenses, or even made it all up, and then took taxpayer money illegally.
Task force investigators say this is what happened with Brandon Howard, Sr. of Boynton Beach. They say he got almost $450,000 in PPP money by making up numbers and making up paperwork. He is now being charged with running a scheme to defraud and laundering money.
“I think a lot of people thought they were getting away with something. Through this PPP, taxpayer money is paying for them to drive around in their nice cars. Well, the gravy train is over, and we’re coming for you, “Aronberg said.
Aronberg said that the federal government is giving the task force 12 cases that are already open. He also said that the task force will be looking for more tips and actively looking into the cases.
So far, they have worked with the local Sober Homes Task Force and found that many of the people who were charged in those cases also got illegal PPP money.
Aronberg said that one expert thought that $64 billion of the $800 billion in PPP loans was fraud.
