DOJ Has Charged 57 in PPP Loan Scams

The cases, he said, "are diverse in size and scope, involving fraud ranging from loan requests for just $30,000 to approximately $24 million."

National Football League wide receiver Joshua Bellamy was arrested and charged for his alleged participation in the $24 million loan request.

The PPP charges have been brought "in no fewer than 19 federal judicial districts," Rabbitt stated, adding that "these are not simple or easy cases to investigate and charge."

As white-collar matters, the investigations "often involve obtaining and then piecing together often-complex financial, payroll and tax records for individuals and companies, and sifting through other evidence," Rabbitt said.

The PPP schemes, he continued, fall into two categories:

• Individuals or small groups who lied about having legitimate businesses, or who claimed they needed PPP money for things like paying their workers, but instead used it to buy splashy luxury items for themselves.
• Coordinated criminal rings that have engaged in systematic, organized conduct to loot the PPP.

"The involvement of these rings is unsurprising, but it is particularly troubling, and we will be focusing on these types of cases going forward," Rabbitt said.

One case involved two New York brothers who were charged Thursday in a criminal complaint for their alleged participation in a scheme to file at least eight fraudulent loan applications seeking nearly $7 million in forgivable PPP loans.

— Related on ThinkAdvisor:

• NFL Player Josh Bellamy Arrested in $24M PPP Loan Scam
• Mnuchin Says Stimulus Hopes Aren't Dead; House Inquiry Flags PPP Loan Abuses
• Justice Department Fights Effort to More Broadly Reveal PPP Borrowers