Pastor & His Son Arrested Over Alleged $8m COVID Scam | READ DETAILS

Pastor & His Son Arrested Over Alleged $8m COVID Scam | READ DETAILS

Pastor Evan Edwards and his son, Josh, aged 30, was on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 arrested for allegedly using $3.7million out of $8million COVID relief fund fraudulently obtained to purchase a mansion in Florida.

Pastor Edwards of ASLAN International Ministry and his son were taken into federal custody from their family home in New Smyrna Beach after questions were raised on why they were yet to be prosecuted since 2020.

The pastor had in April 2020 applied for a $6 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to cover payroll, rent and utilities for his family’s ministry. In the loan application, he claimed that the organization, ASLAN International Ministry, had 486 employees and a monthly payroll of $2.7 million, according to a federal forfeiture complaint. ASLAN International was ultimately approved for an $8.4 million loan. It was however discovered that Edwards’ claims were false.

Federal investigators had visited the ministry’s office in Orlando where they met the entrance locked and workers at the neighboring businesses told them nobody was ever seen inside.

According to federal prosecutors, a review of the ministry’s website showed that the donation links were inactive and sections of text were apparently lifted from other religious sites.

Further investigation showed that the man who was listed on the loan application as the ministry’s accountant suffered from dementia and hadn’t done any work for the organization since 2017, federal prosecutors said in court papers, citing an interview with the man’s son.

These discoveries made Federal agents storm Edward’s family home in New Smyrna Beach about 7 a.m. on  Wednesday to effect an arrest.

Evan Edwards was wheeled out of the house in a wheelchair. Agents escorted Josh Edwards out of the home and into a law enforcement vehicle, his hands cuffed behind his back.

A six-count indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses them of making a series of false claims in their PPP loan application, including that ASLAN International had 486 employees and average monthly payroll expenses of $2.7 million.

Evan and Josh Edwards knew that ASLAN’s actual number of employees and actual monthly payroll expenses were “significantly lower, or entirely nonexistent,” says the indictment prosecutors filed in the Middle District of Florida.

The two men, who are originally from Canada, were hit with a total of six charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and visa fraud. They were expected to appear in federal court in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon.