Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Convicted At Trial Of COVID-19 Relief Fraud

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From the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida:

MIAMI – On March 5, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale convicted a Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) deputy of two counts of wire fraud for her COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. 

 

In 2021, Stephanie Diane Smith, 53, of Sunrise, Florida, applied for and received two PPP loans for herself as a sole proprietor doing business as Children 1st Basketball Training and Agape Smith Vending, respectively, based upon materially false information about each business’s total amount of gross income for the year 2019, including a falsified IRS tax form submitted with each application. Smith also sought and received forgiveness of both fraudulently obtained PPP loans, which totaled over $31,000 in principal and interest. During the period of the scheme, Smith was employed as a deputy sheriff in BSO’s Department of Law Enforcement.

 

The sentencing is scheduled for May 29 before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.  Smith faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud conviction. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

 

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe; Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri, FBI, Miami Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Brian Tucker, Eastern Region, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony of BSO made the announcement.

 

FBI Miami, FRB-OIG and BSO investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Snider and Trevor Jones are prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Grove is handling asset forfeiture.

 

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

 

On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to head one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to enhance existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19 related financial fraud.  The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information regarding the Strike Force may be found athttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-covid-19-fraud-strike-force-teams.

Broward Teachers Union Quietly Removes Fake Testimonials From Website

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The Broward Teachers Union (BTU) quietly removed portions of its website Wednesday after REDBROWARD exposed numerous testimonials by fake teachers. The website prominently featured quotes from four teachers who praised BTU and union boss Anna Fusco. REDBROWARD revealed the four teachers did not exist.

A simple search showed all four “teachers” were stock characters used in website building templates.

On Wednesday, BTU removed the testimonial section from the main page of its website.

Luckily, the screenshots of “Kelvin,” “Zasha Swan,” “Frank Jones,” and “Jack Brownn” will last forever.

Below is our original story.

The Broward Teachers Union (BTU) website uses stock photographs and fake testimonials from non-existent teachers to promote the union president. The BTU website features four “teachers” thanking Anna Fusco for helping them get out of trouble at work. Just one problem, none of these teachers exist in the real world.

In the first testimonial, a teacher named Kevin states, “I was worried about losing my job, Anna came to my achool and to my defense and saved my career.”

Zasha Swan states, “The professional development that BTU provided saved me time and money, and I learned a lot.”

Teacher Frank Jones states, “My principal heard BTU was coming to my meeting, miraculously the issue was resolved in advance.”

And teacher Jack Brownn writes, “The BTU has been my backbone throughout my career. Their tireless efforts in negotiating for better working conditions have allowed me to focus on what matters most—providing quality education to my students.”

Kelvin, Zasha Swan, Frank Jones and Jack Brownn do not exist. These four individuals are not teachers in Broward County schools. None of these four individuals are members of the Broward Teachers Union.

Kelvin Black, Zasha Swan, Frank Jones and Jack Brownn are fictitious. They are stock characters used as placeholders on website building templates. The images of all four individuals are available to purchase from stock photography websites.

Other websites using these same exact names and photographs claim Kelvin Black lives in Dallas, Zasha Swan lives in Australia, Frank Jones lives in Japan while Jack Brownn resides in London.

Instead of using testimony from actual teachers, the BTU simply removed the location of the fictional characters. Who crafted these fake (and poorly written) testimonials?

Lazy and deceitful.

Is there more fiction on the BTU website?