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Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Four people have been charged with participating in COVID-19 relief fraud schemes, and three of them have already pled guilty.

WASHINGTON – Elias Eldabbagh, 30, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in federal court today to carrying out a scheme to steal more than $31 million under the CARES Act and laundering the proceeds of his scheme. Eldabbagh succeeded in stealing $2,385,000 under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

Two downtown Los Angeles residents were arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $300,000 – and attempted to obtain an additional $1 million – in COVID-relief loans for several companies they claimed to own and operate.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty yesterday to participating in a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration and a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lender while he was on pretrial release, by filing fraudulent loan applications seeking over $100,000 in loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Seattle – A former Seattle doctor was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 4 years in prison for fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.