A Florida pastor and his son were detained on Wednesday on suspicion of defrauding the federal Covid relief program of more than $8 million and intending to use some of the funds to purchase a mansion close to Walt Disney World.
Federal prosecutors first disclosed the alleged fraud in court papers in December 2020, and five months later, NBC News raised concerns about why Evan Edwards, 64, and his son Josh, 30, hadn’t been indicted. They were arrested.
It wasn’t immediately obvious if the family had retained legal counsel.
NBC News’ prior reporting prompted law enforcement to give the case priority, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Josh Edwards requested a $6 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in April 2020 to pay for utilities, rent, and payroll for his family’s ministry. The case began at that time. According to a federal forfeiture complaint, he stated in the loan application that ASLAN International Ministry had 486 employees and a $2.7 million monthly salary.
Ultimately, an $8.4 million loan was approved for ASLAN International.
However, according to the complaint, when federal agents visited the ministry’s office in Orlando, the door was locked and nearby employees claimed nobody had ever been seen inside. According to the complaint, a study of the ministry’s website revealed that the contribution buttons were inactive and that some of the text appeared to have been taken from other religious websites.
There were more warning signs. In court documents, federal prosecutors said that the guy identified as the ministry’s accountant on the loan application had dementia and hadn’t worked for the company since 2017, citing an interview with the man’s son.
At about seven in the morning on Wednesday, federal officials pounced on the family’s New Smyrna Beach residence.
Evan Edwards was pushed into a wheelchair outside the home. Josh Edwards was led by agents out of the house and into a police car while having his hands restrained behind his back.
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They are accused of making a number of fraudulent statements in their PPP loan application, including claiming ASLAN International had 486 employees and average monthly payroll expenses of $2.7 million, according to a six-count indictment that was released on Wednesday.
According to the indictment filed by prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida, Evan and Josh Edwards were aware that ASLAN’s true payroll expenses and personnel count were “substantially lower, or totally nonexistent.”
Six counts were brought against the two individuals, both of Canadian descent, including conspiracy to conduct bank fraud and visa fraud. On Wednesday afternoon, they were scheduled to appear in federal court in Orlando.
Due to the situation’s sensitivity, the neighbor who wished to remain anonymous added, “I’m delighted they got caught.” It has taken a while.
Before relocating to Florida in 2019, the Edwards family spent several years serving as missionaries in Turkey. They chose to live in a recently developed neighborhood approximately an hour’s drive from Orlando. According to the civil forfeiture complaint, when federal investigators arrived at the home in September 2020 to carry out a search warrant, no one was there and everything had been “cleaned out.”
Later that evening, Florida police officers stopped the family’s Mercedes SUV. Police said they were driving too fast on I-75 north of Gainesville.
According to the civil forfeiture complaint, when federal agents arrived on the scene, they discovered bags of shredded documents in the vehicle, along with suitcases full of financial records and their electronic devices stuffed into so-called Faraday bags, which block radio frequencies to prevent them from being tracked.
According to court records, the family was detained on an unrelated immigration allegation but was released the following day after the case was dropped.
The $8.4 million the Edwards family had been given six months later, in April 2021, was ordered to be forfeited by a federal judge in Florida after the government alleged it was the profits of bank fraud and money laundering activities. The seizure was not contested by the Edwards family.
According to the complaint, they had attempted to use some of the cash to buy a $3.7 million house in Golden Oaks, a brand-new Disney World neighborhood.
However, the transaction was abandoned. According to the complaint, the government seized the $868,000 set aside for the 4,700-square-foot house’s down payment.
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