Baltimore, Maryland – Reginald Alphonso Hopkins, age 52, of Prince George's County, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to the submission of fraudulent claims for the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, enacted to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The guilty plea was announced by Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.
According to his plea agreement, Hopkins fraudulently obtained $1,007,224 in fraudulent PPP funds and $9,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds for various purported businesses he controlled—a transportation business, a car sales business, and an assisted living facility. He also attempted to fraudulently obtain more than $3,132,224 in PPP and EIDL funds.
According to his plea agreement, on June 11, 2020, with direction from Hopkins, a co-conspirator submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application to Bluevine and Celtic Bank for Prestige Executive Transportation, a business owned by Hopkins. The application contained multiple material misrepresentations, including that Prestige Executive Transportation in 2019 had 15 employees and an average monthly payroll of $116,436. In support of the loan...
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