A 49-year-old Edina man has admitted in federal court that he ran a nearly $1 million COVID-19 relief scam, taking a plea deal that could cap his prison time at under two years while requiring him to pay back every dollar tied to the scheme.
According to KARE 11, Mark Erjavec of Edina pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will ask for a sentence of no more than 21 months, the remaining counts in the case will be dismissed, and Erjavec must make full restitution for the losses prosecutors say stemmed from his conduct.
Indictment And Alleged Scheme
As detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, a federal grand jury indicted Erjavec in September 2025 on five counts of wire fraud. The indictment alleges he brought several dormant Minnesota businesses back to life on paper in 2020, then filed bogus Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program applications that inflated revenue and claimed employees who did not exist.
Prosecutors say Erjavec opened checking accounts for those shell entities, had more than $975,000 in relief funds wired into accounts he controlled, and did not use the money for lawful business expenses as the programs required.
A Broader Crackdown On Pandemic-Era Fraud
The case is part of a wider federal push in Minnesota to chase down COVID-era fraud, including the massive "Feeding Our Future" child-nutrition scandal that national outlets and prosecutors have described as one of the largest pandemic-related scams in the country, according to The Associated Press. That investigation and a series of related prosecutions have kept federal fraud teams busy across the state and sharpened the focus on clawing back money for victims.
Legal Next Steps
A federal judge will set a sentencing date and decide whether to go along with the government’s recommendation of no more than 21 months in prison and the restitution laid out in the plea agreement, KARE 11 reports. Under federal law, a wire fraud conviction can carry a maximum of 20 years behind bars, although judges typically look to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and consider factors like the size of the loss and the defendant’s criminal history, according to the Legal Information Institute.
