MIAMI – Jason Scott Carter, a 45-year-old former Coral Springs, Fla., police officer, should serve 5 years of probation and pay restitution following a federal conviction for fraudulently making use of to the U.S. Small Enterprise Administration (SBA) for a COVID-19 reduction advance grant and low-interest mortgage.
Based on courtroom information, Carter submitted a fraudulent Financial Harm Catastrophe Mortgage (EIDL) utility and mortgage settlement on behalf of Jason S. Carter Inc., a South Florida enterprise he allegedly owned and operated. That utility falsely licensed that throughout the 12 months previous to January 31, 2020, the enterprise had gross revenues of $100,000. In actuality, the enterprise had solely minimal gross revenues. He additionally falsely licensed in his SBA utility that he would use the funds for enterprise bills to alleviate pandemic-related financial damage. As an alternative, Carter spent greater than $21,000 of the SBA mortgage acquiring high-end repairs on his 1969 Ford Mustang.
Carter pled responsible to at least one rely of wire fraud on October 12, 2022. Along with his probation, he should serve six months dwelling confinement, pay a $5,000 nice, and pay restitution within the quantity of $30,000.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of Florida; Particular Agent in Cost Omar Perez Aybar, Well being and Human Providers, Workplace of the Inspector Normal (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Workplace; and Particular Agent in Cost David Walker, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tampa, Fla., Area Workplace, made the announcement.
HHS-OIG Miami, Tampa Area Workplace, and FBI Tampa investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Will J. Rosenzweig prosecuted it. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Peter Laserna is dealing with asset forfeiture.
In March 2020, the Coronavirus Help, Aid, and Financial Safety (CARES) Act was enacted. It was designed to offer emergency monetary help to the hundreds of thousands of Individuals struggling the financial results brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act approved and supplied funding to SBA to offer EIDLs to eligible small companies, together with sole proprietorships and unbiased contractors experiencing substantial monetary disruptions as a result of pandemic. This allowed them to fulfill monetary obligations and fund working bills. EIDL purposes have been submitted straight by way of the SBA’s web site the place the purposes have been processed and loans funded for qualifying candidates.
On Might 17, 2021, the Legal professional Normal established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Job Drive to marshal the sources of the Division of Justice in partnership with businesses throughout authorities to reinforce efforts to fight and stop pandemic-related fraud. The Job Drive bolsters efforts to analyze and prosecute essentially the most culpable home and worldwide felony actors and assists businesses tasked with administering reduction packages to forestall fraud by augmenting and incorporating current coordination mechanisms, figuring out sources and methods to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing info and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For extra info on the division’s response to the pandemic, please go to https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anybody with details about allegations of tried fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Division of Justice’s Nationwide Heart for Catastrophe Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or by way of the NCDF Internet Grievance Kind at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
-Associated courtroom paperwork and data could also be discovered on the web site of the District Court docket for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, underneath case no. 22-CR-80094.