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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, announced the indictment of six individuals for a multi-million-dollar fraudulent scheme to illegally obtain federal recovery funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The Grand Jury charged the defendants with multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud, and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) fraud. The charging documents claim that from April 2020 through April 2023, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused the...

Alexander Barabash, age 52, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud, relating to the submission of fraudulent Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act loan applications. The CARES Act was enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PROVIDENCE – A Providence man who participated in a conspiracy that submitted online applications as part of an effort to fraudulently collect approximately $243,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits from at least seven states, which he did while serving a term of federal supervised release that followed his conviction and incarceration for sex trafficking, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.