Leaders of a fraudulent ministry have been charged with receiving over $8 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds by lying about the size of their religious nonprofit, allegedly using the funds to put a downpayment on a mansion in Central Florida.
Evan Edwards, 64, and his son Joshua Edwards, 30, natives of Canada who were both residents of New Smyrna Beach, were charged with six counts related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and visa fraud last Thursday.
Both men were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and visa fraud. Joshua Edwards was charged with making false statements to a lending institution, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a statement.
According to the indictment, the father and son submitted a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan application to an FDIC-insured lending institution on behalf of Aslan International Ministry, a "not-for-profit corporation that purportedly provided religious services."
Prosecutors said false claims were made in the PPP loan application, stating that ASLAN had 486 employees even though the actual number of employees was "significantly lower, or entirely nonexistent."
The application also claimed that ASLAN had average monthly payroll expenses of over $2.7 million, which authorities say was also much lower or "entirely nonexistent." As a result of the false claims, the defendants received PPP loan proceeds totaling over $8.4 million.
"The conspirators intended to use...
Over the last year, beyond traditional healthcare and federal procurement matters, the government has pursued federal False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and enforcement across high-risk areas, i...