Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA)
RICHMOND - The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted 50 people in 2022 for attempting to swindle the government and associated financial institutions out of nearly $125 million in COVID-19 relief funds. "But there is still considerable work to be done," the office's chief attorney says.
Last year's effort topped the work done in 2021, when the office prosecuted 30 people who attempted to steal $105 million in pandemic aid.
Last year's most egregious case involved Quin Ngoc Rudin, 55, a felon who was sentenced in October in Alexandria to 10 years in prison; he pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud the federal Paycheck Protection Program out of $43 million by preparing dozens of false loan applications. Rudin sought to steal $100 million, and the fraud occurred while he was on supervised release after serving 5 years for another massive fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.
Rudin's conviction included defrauding the IRS by filing false income tax returns on behalf of at least night professional athletes. He pocketed $19 million.
Two of the largest cases prosecuted in Richmond last year included Sadie Mitchell, 30, a state employee who used her position to bilk Virginia and the U.S. out of $1.2 million in pandemic relief funds; and Moe Mathews, 51, a local real estate developer and investor who defrauded the Small Business Administration and associated financial institutions out of $1.1 million.
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