Jefferson County man sentenced for COVID-relief fraud

A Jefferson County man has been sentenced for his criminal involvement with a COVID-relief fraud scheme.

Acheon King Aleidron of Beaumont, 35, formerly known as Cameron Alexander, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced to over four years in federal prison, 57 months total, by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.

Aleidron must also pay $415,900 in restitution.

According to court documents, Aleidron used a Beaumont address for a business named The Fishing Factor, LLC to fraudulently obtain $415,000 under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act for COVID-19 pandemic relief.  Aleidron filed numerous fraudulent loan applications and received the funds which were intended to cover payroll, fixed debts, utilities, rent/mortgage, accounts payable and other bills incurred by qualifying businesses during and resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Aleidron opened five bank accounts with four different banks in in order to receive funds from the scheme.  The government was able to seize $186,413.78 from Aleidron’s various bank accounts, which will be forfeited to pay back a portion of the loss.

The Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (“EIDL”) was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the SBA that provided loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses as part of the CARES Act, which set aside more than $600 billion for COVID-19 pandemic relief.  EIDL loans were intended to cover payroll, fixed debts, utilities, rent/mortgage, accounts payable and other bills incurred by qualifying businesses during, and resulting from, the COVID-19 pandemic.

To obtain an EIDL loan, a qualifying business had to submit an EIDL loan application, which was signed by an authorized representative of the business.  The EIDL loan application required the business (through its authorized representative) to acknowledge the program rules and make certain affirmative certifications to be eligible to obtain the EIDL loan, including that the business was in operation and needed the funds for working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster occurring in the month of January 31, 2020, and continuing thereafter.  For a business to be eligible for an EIDL loan, the business must have been in operation before February 1, 2020.

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