Federal investigators arrested the head of a nonprofit organization for allegedly defrauding COVID-19 relief programs of $1.5 million.
Westchester resident Reginald Foster Jr., 37, is accused of working with a pair of accomplices to file unemployment benefits claims. According to the US Department of Justice, in some cases the suspects may have used stolen identities.
A federal grand jury indictment charged Foster with 22 counts of bank fraud, nine counts of mail fraud, five counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of using devices for unauthorized access and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bank fraud.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bond.
Foster allegedly abused the federal program designed to provide unemployment benefits to the self-employed, independent contractors and other people who were ineligible for the funds during the pandemic. Foster allegedly filed 118 fraudulent claims during the scheme.
In return, he received debit cards and used them to obtain benefits through his nonprofit Champs Up! LLC. He also used the cards to withdraw $1,000 from ATMs before sending them to his accomplices so they could use them to make further withdrawals.
They are said to have withdrawn almost $1.5 million before benefits were frozen. The DOJ alleged that the crew could have withdrawn nearly $4 million if authorities had allowed the accounts to remain open.
Foster’s two accomplices were also charged in the scheme, one of whom lives in Los Angeles County. The federal indictment charged 31-year-old Westlake resident Shelece Counts with 11 counts of bank fraud, five counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of using devices for unauthorized access and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and bank fraud, according to the DOJ. .
She pleaded not guilty.
