Miami Pastor Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for COVID-19 Loan Fraud
The pastor obtained over $500,000 in federal loans for fake businesses.
A pastor in Miami, Florida, was sentenced last week to 48 months in federal prison for attempting to gain over $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for nonexistent businesses under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Elie Floradin / Courtesy of Mugshots Zone
Elie Floradin, who described himself as the lead pastor for New Bethel Baptist Church, applied for PPP funds for a fake employment agency which he claimed paid nearly $1 million in wages to dozens of employees. He secured $200,000 in PPP loans for the agency, but was denied an additional $600,000 which he sought in other applications.
After pleading guilty to fraud related to the fake employment agency, the government investigators discovered another fake business by which Floradin obtained $336,000 in PPP loans. The nature of that fraudulent business was not provided by the Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ’s press release, Floradin was ordered to pay restitution to the United States for $535,996 in fraudulently obtained money.
Floradin’s conviction was based on efforts of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established in 2021 to “combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.”
“The PPP program seems to have resulted in billions of dollars of fraudulent loans that have ultimately turned into grants,” Samuel Kruger, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Texas at Austin told NPR. He estimated that $64 billion of the nearly $800 billion in loans indicate fraud, including suspiciously high payrolls and the listing of multiple businesses at the same home address.
MinistryWatch has reported on multiple other PPP fraud schemes that have inured to the benefit of churches, pastors, and ministries.
One of the strangest involves ASLAN International Ministries in Orlando fraudulently obtaining PPP loan funds, a series of bank transfers among several institutions, name changes, false tax documents, a multi-million dollar home purchase, a routine traffic stop that resulted in the discovery of incriminating documents, and the ministry founder whom a federal court suggests may be feigning illness.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Why does MinistryWatch report on financial fraud in the church? We report on them because one in three churches will be victimized, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. We also report on them because these crimes have real victims and cost taxpayers and other stakeholders billions of dollars every year. Even small crimes in small churches have huge consequences. We also report on them to remind our readers that they do not have to be victims. There are steps you can take to prevent financial waste, fraud, and abuse in your church or ministry. To find out more, click here.
