FL Pastor Arrested After Using $8.4M in COVID Relief Funds to Buy Mansion+ Luxury Items
Police have arrested a pastor and his son for fraud after they misrepresented their ministry to receive millions in COVID relief funds.
Evan and Joshua Edwards, who also spent years as missionaries in Turkey, were taken into custody last week after investigators say they abused the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a government scheme designed to give funds to small businesses during the pandemic lockdown.
The two men submitted paperwork saying their Christian organization, ASLAN International Ministries, had 486 employees and spent $2.7 million a MONTH on payroll, despite being primarily a small family endeavor.
They transferred the money into different bank accounts to avoid detection. They attempted to purchase mansions for themselves, but through a seizure warrant, authorities were ultimately able to recover $8.4M, so they were unable to profit from it.
According to the US Department of Justice:
Evan and Joshua Edwards are each charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and visa fraud. Joshua Edwards is also charged with making a false statement to a lending institution. If convicted on the conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud charges, each faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on each count. If convicted on the visa fraud charges, each faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison per count. Joshua Edwards also faces a maximum penalty of 30 years’ imprisonment on the false statement offense.
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No wonder the unsaved mock and despise the religious.
They need to also look at the bank that processed that paperwork. I work in that business and there were many facets of the fraud. Churches that took money (outside of legit reasons if they have a daycare or preschool and those funds were needed for teachers) should be ashamed of themselves. Nearly all had no need of it. The church members are supposed to take care of the church. Utility bills were at record lows during that time so overall expenses were down. But if you take in the astronomical salaries that some ministers make today, they won’t take a paycut. Underlings may be made too take a salary cut, but not the CEO (cough, cough, I mean pastor).