PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — Three Palm Beach County residents were arrested and accused of fraudulently acquiring over $1.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.
The arrests stemmed from months of investigating and were announced by State Attorney Dave Aronberg on Wednesday. The State Attorney’s Office began a task force in the spring in collaboration with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO), called the Paycheck Protection Program Fraud Task Force.
Together, authorities arrested David Jean, 46; Lesley Jean-Louis, 36; and Marc Jean-Jacques, 71. They are each facing felony charges of organized scheme to defraud and money laundering.
“They will be held accountable for ripping off taxpayers while our country was in the midst of a worldwide pandemic,” the state attorney said. “Their actions were despicable.”
Jean, specifically, illegally obtained over $245,055 through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and falsely claimed he had 17 employees with an average monthly payroll of $98,022. Through records, investigators found the tenants of the man’s listed business address and spoke to them in May.
The property owners claimed to have only ever seen Jean at the business location. The man was eventually arrested August 1.
Jean-Louis and Jean-Jacques each allegedly obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from the PPP through almost identical tactics. Jean-Jacques was arrested booked into the Palm Beach County Jail October 16 with Jean-Louis being booked about two weeks later.
The Wednesday news release explained how the task force investigators have been working more than two dozen similar cases to date.
The fraudulent money taken totals over $12 million in PPP funds. One by one, COVID-19 relief fraudsters will be exposed, Aronberg said in the news release.
Photo: David Jean (left), Lesley Jean-Louis (middle) and Marc Jean-Jacques (right) were all arrested for their alleged fraudulent activities related to COVID-19 relief funds. In total, they each illegally obtained over $1 million. (PBSO)
Source: cbs12.com
