COVID Scheme Nets Twin Brothers $1 Million, Fancy New Camaro

Twin brothers in Maryland made a million bucks and bought a shiny new sports car after COVID-19 scheme, but alas, they got caught.

Jerry and Jalel Phillps, both 24, are "facing federal charges for allegedly obtaining payouts totaling more than $1 million in COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits and loans," as relayed by the Daily Wire.

The twins then used some of that cold, hard, COVID-related cash to buy a 2020 Camaro, as well as trade cryptocurrency, per the U.S. Department of Justice. They appeared in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., on Wednesday.

It seems their odds of dodging prison time aren't real good.

U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland, as well as officials in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Department of Labor, detailed the following in a DOJ press release:

“According to the criminal complaint, IP addresses linked to Jaleel and Jerry Phillips were used to submit fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster loan applications (EIDL), and unemployment insurance claims resulting in $1 million in received funds.

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"As stated in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the Phillips brothers allegedly created fictitious aliases, used the personal identifying information of real people, and used out of business or fake corporate entities to apply for EIDL and PPP loans, and unemployment benefits.”

Of course, this is nothing new. One of the greatly undersold results of the pandemic is people trying to use it to benefit themselves financially. Some have surely gotten away with it.

As the Daily Wire noted, "Nearly two years after the government approved aid totaling more than $6 trillion, the U.S. government is now tasked with accounting for where the funds ended up."

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