A soldier has been charged after allegedly obtaining two fraudulent COVID-related emergency loans to fund what he claimed was a cake business known as “Granny’s Delight.”
According to court documents, Sgt. 1st Class Crispin Antonio Abad, 42, was hit with an eight-count indictment — or about one indictment each — by a federal grand jury after he allegedly submitted two fraudulent PPP loan applications in April 2021, while on active duty at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paycheck Protection Program loans were provided to provide small businesses with the necessary resources to maintain payroll and maintain staff levels.
Using what he reportedly claimed to be exactly $100,000 of GamGam’s pie-based revenue in 2020, Abad allegedly filed a fabricated IRS tax return with the Small Business Administration in support of the loan request, a process that ultimately netted him $41,000, according to the Ministry of Justice.
However, extraordinarily detailed processing by the IRS revealed that Abad never filed the same falsified tax return that matched the version received by the Small Business Administration, the Justice Department said. An investigation was then launched.
After receiving the culinary-fueled $41,000, Abad, meanwhile, reportedly embarked on a spending spree in the mid-Atlantic, paying for visits to the Fort Gregg-Adams Golf Course and the Ace Adventure Resort in West Virginia and spending hundreds of dollars recorded at an MGM Casino. in National Harbor, Maryland. There were also alleged purchases at Sunglass Hut, Reeds Jeweler, Virginia ABC Store – a liquor store chain – and Victoria’s Secret.
Investigators also discovered loan programs run by two other active-duty soldiers, Maj. Eduwell Jenkins and Fort Gregg-Adams sergeant. Malaysia Stubbs, which similarly obtained COVID-19 relief loans through fraudulent claims submitted to the Paycheck Protection Program.
Jenkins, 42, and Stubbs, 30, who pleaded guilty to defrauding the Small Business Administration of $20,000 each, face maximum sentences of five years in prison. If found guilty, Abad faces up to 20 years in prison.
