CHICAGO (CBS) — Six present and former U.S. Postal Company staff members have been charged with fraudulently acquiring financial loans for corporations that did not definitely exist.
The six defendants have been billed as element of an investigation by the Illinois Lawyer General’s Taskforce on Unemployment Benefits Insurance Fraud. They all utilized for a wide range of federal government financial loans and assistance through the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Attorney General’s place of work.
In addition to seeking to get loans from the Smaller Company Administration for companies that were not serious, four of the defendants are accused of filing for fraudulent unemployment rewards even though they had been truly working for the Postal Service all alongside.
The defendants are:
- Davonte Kendall, 30, of Lansing
- Bria Taylor, 27, of Berwyn
- Imani Butler, 29, of Dixmoor
- Raven Daniel, 28, of Bellwood
- Louis K. Lay, Jr., 32, of Chicago
- Erica M. Beck, 34, of Chicago.
Amongst them, the 6 defendants are charged with extra than 65 felony counts – together with theft by deception, condition positive aspects fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud, and forgery.
Lay and Beck – who are married to every other and each however get the job done for the Postal Company – are also billed with scheming to steal $25,000 in financial influence payments from people in the South Shore neighborhood.
The Attorney General’s place of work commenced investigating when the Postal Service’s Workplace of the Inspector Basic reported that some workers had been amassing unemployment though performing and having compensated by the Postal Assistance. A joint federal and point out investigation adopted.
