Two Jamaicans are among six people charged with defrauding the United States Small Business Administration Payroll Protection Program (PPP) of over US$14 million.

According to the complaint, unsealed last week in the Federal Court in White Plains, New York, Glenroy Walker, a Jamaican who resides in New Rochelle, and Jamaican Gary Wheeler, who lives in Mount Vernon, are charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud.

The other four facing charges are Donnat Powell of Patterson, New Jersey; Howard Levy of the Bronx; Sherril Baez of Freeport, Long Island; and Norma Getten of the Bronx.

The FBI took all six people into custody on Tuesday, June 7, 2023, and brought them before the courts later that day.

If convicted, the men could face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

In addition, the FBI charged Walker and Levy with one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year sentence.

According to court documents unsealed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, headed by Jamaican Damian Williams, between July 2020 and February 2022, Walker and Levy operated a scheme to submit fraudulent applications for loans from the Small Business Administration Payroll Protection Program.

Congress created the Payroll Protection Program to provide billions of dollars in forgivable loans to struggling small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Payroll Protection Program was overseen by the Small Business Administration, which guaranteed the loans issued, in the first instance, by commercial lenders.

According to the courts, Walker and Levy submitted over 100 fraudulent PPP loan applications to various financial institutions. Among other fraudulent misrepresentations, the PPP applications they submitted frequently contained phony bank statements and tax documents.

Baez, Getten, Powell, and Wheeler reportedly participated in the fraud, which included submitting fraudulent applications for their purported businesses and recruiting other prospective fraudulent PPP applicants into the scheme.

The court documents revealed that Walker and Levy received significant kickbacks from the applicants, including Baez, Getten, Powell, and Wheeler, and shared portions of the earnings with recruiters.

Thugs executed a Norwood Man moments after driving home.

On Friday night, June 9, 2023, armed thugs shot and killed a Norwood resident moments after he and his girlfriend pulled up in his vehicle at his house.

The police identified the deceased as Akeem Smith, o/c ‘Mackra,’ age 26, late of Albion Lane, St James. 

The thugs reportedly shot the girlfriend as she tried to escape.

According to reports, at about 11:45 pm, on Friday, June 9, 2023, armed laying-in-wait attacked Smith and his girlfriend moments after they arrived home at Water Lilly Crescent in Norwood.

The thugs shot Smith multiple times. He died at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where his girlfriend received treatment.