2 Delco Residents Stole Coronavirus Relief Funds: Federal Authorities

ASTON, PA — Two Delaware County residents have been charged with defrauding federal programs funded by the CARES Act by illegally obtaining COVID relief funds, authorities said.

Francis J. Battista, 37, of Aston, and Tai Brown, 19, of Collingdale were among 19 people charged, according to United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

The 19 people sought to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program of over $24 million, authorities said.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, commonly called the CARES Act, was intended to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each defendant is alleged to have defrauded one or more of these programs.

As alleged in four indictments and seven informations, each defendant applied or conspired with others to apply for benefits even though they knew they were not eligible for the benefits.

They each were responsible for submitting false applications to fraudulently obtain the benefits.

They each succeeded in fraudulently obtaining emergency benefits or helping others to obtain emergency benefits.

In some cases, the defendants are also alleged to have spent the emergency funds, not to make payroll or for other authorized business purposes, but instead spent the money on personal items.

Battista filed 19 fraudulent applications for PPP and EIDL loans in 2020 and 2021, seeking over $10 million in loans.

Battista allegedly supported his fraudulent loan applications by submitting fake tax documents, bank records and payroll summaries.

He succeeded in obtaining $8.4 million in loan funds, and he caused the funds to be spent on unauthorized purchases and debts and laundered a significant portion of the funds.

He allegedly used emergency pandemic funds to purchase a Limited Edition CPO Range Rover Sport 4WD, to make a down payment for a real estate deal, to settle old business debts, and to engage in stock trading.

The government has located and seized $6.3 million of those funds through forfeiture proceedings.

Brown was charged with theft of public money, and the government is seeking forfeiture of $44,238 in PUA funds that are proceeds of the offense.

"Our office has been able to bring charges against these 19 defendants, who deliberately defrauded programs of over $24 million that were intended to help individuals who lost their jobs because of the pandemic and small businesses that were struggling to survive during the global pandemic," Romero said. "Thanks to the hard work of our agency partners in the Covid Fraud Working Group of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, we are protecting the integrity of our taxpayer funded programs from fraudsters, a priority for our office and our law enforcement partners."