A Valley Stream man pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a Paycheck Protection Program fraud scheme while he was serving as a detective with the New York City Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
John Bolden faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced.
Anthony Carreira, another former NYPD detective from Staten Island, and Christian McKenzie from Wheatley Heights, previously pleaded guilty to the fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Bolden and Carreira, both of whom served as NYPD detectives at the time, owned partnership interests in a franchise location for a tax preparation business, according to court filings.
Between May 2020 and October 2022, Bolden engaged in a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration by working with his clients to fraudulently obtain funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress created in 2020 as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, court documents said.
Bolden sought to obtain, and in many cases did obtain, Paycheck Protection Program funds for himself, his co-defendants and more than 65 individuals by helping submit online loan applications that contained materially false and fraudulent information, the attorney’s office said.
One of the loan applications belonged to Carreira, who knowingly submitted false documentation to obtain Paycheck Protection Program funds, according to the attorney’s office.
McKenzie, Bolden’s cousin, also fraudulently obtained a Paycheck Protection Program loan and steered other applicants to Bolden in exchange for fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program proceeds, according to court documents.
As part of the scheme, Bolden prepared false documentation, which accompanied the loan applications and contained false information about his, his co-defendants’ and his clients’ places of employment, gross income, and net income, according to court documents.
“The Paycheck Protection program was created to keep small businesses afloat during an unprecedented national emergency,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr. said in a statement. “John Bolden, who swore to uphold the law as a police officer, instead shamefully broke the law and exploited the COVID-19 pandemic for personal gain.”
