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A San Diego restaurant owner was sentenced to 42 months in prison for schemes to defraud COVID-19 relief programs and filing false tax returns.

As a result of Operation Fraud Street Mafia, a Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) inmate has been charged in two separate federal complaints with drug trafficking and COVID-19 fraud. Seven defendants in California and Maryland are also charged in the two schemes.

A federal grand jury has charged a doctor who operated clinics in Westminster and Garden Grove with defrauding a COVID-19 program for uninsured patients by submitting more than a quarter billion dollars in claims – ultimately receiving about $150 million in payments – for services not covered under the program or simply not provided.

The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions – including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud.

SAN DIEGO – An indictment unsealed in federal court today charges Alexandra Crystal McFarland and Demetrius Montre McFarland, a married couple, with participating in a scheme to steal IRS stimulus payments during the COVID-19 pandemic from destitute and vulnerable victims and using the proceeds to purchase a luxury vehicle, jewelry and furniture.

SAN DIEGO – Constantin Sandu of Romania pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he masterminded a scheme to steal more than $5 million in California unemployment insurance benefits intended to help workers impacted by the pandemic.

A West Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 79 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining approximately $9 million in COVID-19 business loans, some of which he used on gambling excursions to Las Vegas and transferred to his stock trading accounts.

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 18 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in over $490 million in COVID-19 related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs.

A Beverly Hills father and son were sentenced today to federal prison terms for defrauding government programs designed to help businesses survive the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The owner of several Inland Empire-based trucking companies was sentenced today to 120 months in federal prison for ordering the illegal repair of a tanker that resulted in an explosion and the death of one his employees – the second time one of his welders was killed.

The Department of Justice announced today new criminal charges, convictions, and sentences as part of its ongoing initiative to prosecute fraud in connection with various pandemic relief programs under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, as well as other crimes relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Orange County man was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $5 million in COVID-relief loans for three shell companies.

A Beverly Hills man – whose sons pleaded guilty earlier this month to felonies for defrauding COVID-relief programs – pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge for fraudulently seeking more than $6.7 million in COVID-related small business loans for more than half a dozen fake companies.

A Corona man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges in connection with a scheme to submit false loan applications that brought him more than $6.6 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds.

Law enforcement today arrested six defendants charged in a federal grand jury indictment alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $2 million in COVID-19-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by submitting fraudulent applications in the names of others that falsely asserted, among other things, that the claimants were salon and barbershop workers rendered jobless because of the pandemic.

A rapper who boasted in a YouTube music video about getting rich by committing pandemic-related unemployment benefits fraud has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud and firearms charges, the Justice Department announced today.

An Orange County man has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges that he fraudulently obtained more than $5 million in COVID-relief loans for three sham companies.

An Orange County man was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $1.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-relief loans that he used for personal expenses and stock market trading.

A Santa Clarita man was sentenced today to 41 months in federal prison for attempting to steal millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-relief loans for his companies by submitting fraudulent applications that included fake tax documents and information for non-existent employees.

An Orange County man who fled after authorities searched his residence on Wednesday is in federal custody today after he was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border and charged with fraudulently obtaining more than $5 million in COVID-relief loans for three sham companies.

Three members of a San Fernando Valley family have been sentenced – two of them in absentia after they fled justice following their convictions at trial – to years in federal prison for scheming to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

Seven members of a Los Angeles-based fraud ring were sentenced for a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

A Santa Clarita Valley man was sentenced today to 51 months in federal prison for scheming to fraudulently obtain approximately $1.8 million in COVID-19 relief guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

A California man was arrested today in Los Angeles on criminal charges related to his alleged bank fraud, false statements in a loan application and money laundering arising from the submission of fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds.

The owner of trucking companies in the Inland Empire and elsewhere in California, who was out on bond awaiting trial in a separate federal criminal case, was arrested today on a criminal complaint alleging he fraudulently obtained more than $667,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

A federal jury has found four Los Angeles-area residents guilty of criminal charges for scheming to submit fraudulent loan applications seeking millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 14 defendants, including 11 newly-charged defendants and three who were charged in superseding indictments, in seven federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in over $143 million in false billings.

Two United States Postal Service (USPS) employees pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges accusing them of unlawfully buying and cashing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of Postal money orders with unemployment benefits fraudulently obtained with false claims of COVID-related job losses.

An Orange County man was arrested today on federal charges alleging he fraudulently obtained approximately $5 million in Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans for his sham businesses, then used the money on himself, including purchasing Ferrari, Bentley and Lamborghini sports cars.

Federal authorities this morning arrested two employees of the U.S. Postal Service who allegedly abused their positions to purchase and cash Postal money orders with tens of thousands of dollars of unemployment benefits fraudulently obtained with false claims of COVID-related job losses.

A San Dimas man pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge that he fraudulently obtained more than $500,000 in COVID-19-related unemployment benefits in the names of foreign nationals he falsely claimed were local real estate agents hit hard financially by the pandemic.