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by RYAN MINNAUGH | The National News Desk
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(TNND) — Federal prosecutors are going after a USAID employee who allegedly created a fake company to fraudulently secure coronavirus benefits for himself.
Wired Magazine obtained a court document detailing how Yusuf Akoll, a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development, was able to do it.
According to the court filing, “From at least in or around March 2021, and continuing through at least in or around August 2021, Akoll [made] materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements that resulted in Akoll receiving two [Paycheck Protection Program] loans totaling approximately $16,666 that he was not entitled to receive.”
Prosecutors say Akoll registered a company called Naagode Consulting LLC, then applied for the PPP loan in the coronavirus bailout, saying the money was necessary to prevent job loss.
To be eligible for a loan, a company had to be in operation in February 2020, Akoll falsely said it was established in January 2020. The prosecutors said the company had no income but was listed as having $40,000 in 2019.
At the time, coronavirus payments were given out with little vetting under a “pay and chase” model, where fraud claims would be recovered later.
In 2023, the Biden Administration said it would not seek to collect on loans of less than $100,000 citing equity. Most loans were designed to be forgiven unless you did not meet the necessary requirements.
