Act Daily News
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Federal prosecutors introduced costs Wednesday towards a Florida state consultant who allegedly swindled hundreds of {dollars} in coronavirus reduction loans from the Small Business Administration.
State Rep. Joseph Harding obtained greater than $150,000 in SBA loans by mendacity on his mortgage purposes, in keeping with a news launch from the Justice Department. Prosecutors allege Harding listed dormant business entities on his purposes, fabricated the numbers of individuals he employed and submitted faux financial institution statements.
Harding, 35, is ready to go to trial for costs of wire fraud, cash laundering, and making false statements, DOJ stated within the launch. A wire fraud conviction carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail, whereas cash laundering and making false statements carry a most of 10 and 5 years, respectively.
His trial is ready for January 11 in Gainesville, Florida.
Harding was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020. He nonetheless holds the general public workplace, in keeping with his web site.
Act Daily News has reached out to Harding’s workplace for remark.
In a press release to the The New York Times, he stated he had pleaded not responsible throughout an preliminary court docket look Wednesday. “I want the public and my constituents to know that I fully repaid the loan and cooperated with investigators as requested,” Harding advised the Times.
The Florida Republican has drawn the nationwide highlight earlier than, as a sponsor of the controversial laws that banned sure instruction about sexual orientation and gender id within the classroom that opponents dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. The laws formally named the “Parental Rights in Education” legislation, signed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in March, set off a nationwide firestorm and drew fast pushback from LGBTQ advocates.
Investigators have stated that billions of {dollars} of Covid-19 reduction funds have been obtained utilizing fabricated, stolen or faux info. The Justice Department’s Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force has introduced a number of high-profile fraud instances throughout the nation.