In a significant crackdown on alleged fraud involving pandemic aid, six family members have been indicted on charges of conspiring to steal over $166,000 from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang, stated that these individuals reportedly manipulated the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and other pandemic unemployment benefits, ostensibly to shore up businesses and workers deeply affected by the crisis but in reality using fictitious companies to harvest the funds for themselves, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced.
According to the charges, the schemes ran from April 2021 to October 2022, with each defendant claiming self-employment in a variety of made-up services and submitting forged tax documents with strikingly similar financial data yet it's the brazen duplication of expenses and figures that anchors the case's premise. Come January 28, 2026, the accused will face their day in court; intriguingly, Justice Eugene Guarino of the Brooklyn Supreme Court has permitted them to roam free without bail until then, the District Attorney's Office detailed that various counts levied against the accused include grand larceny and falsifying business records.
The family under indictment includes Karima Branche, Faye Wilkie-Fields, Wilworth Branche, Carol Horton, Monique Horton, and Paul Neufville, each variously charged with several felonies related to the appropriation of relief funds intended to sustain small businesses during one of the toughest economic times in recent memory, they are also accused of submitting PPP loan forgiveness applications deceitfully asserting that a majority of the proceeds were used for payroll. Furthermore, separate charges have been brought against members of the group related to unemployment benefits fraud, adding complexity to the scope of their alleged criminal activities, the office shared.
Inspector General Lang described the theft of public funds designated for the support of the stricken in our community as particularly egregious, adding shame to the collective weal of those who suffered sincerely during the pandemic. In building their case, investigators traced the fraudulent loan applications and forgiveness requests back to two IP addresses linked to defendant Neufville, Neufville allegedly assisted in coordinating the applications and received kickbacks for "services." The diligent teamwork of various federal and state agencies has been applauded in apprehending those accused of undermining the purpose and potential of vital relief initiatives, all this, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office press release.
