2 NYPD detectives charged in COVID-relief fraud scheme

August 13, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — TWO NYPD DETECTIVES HAVE BEEN CHARGED IN BEING PART OF A PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM FRAUD SCHEME. John Bolden and Anthony Carreira, detectives employed by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Jacqueline Johnson and Christian McKenzie were charged in Brooklyn federal court on Monday, Aug. 12, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, by engaging in a scheme to submit fraudulent applications for loans under the United States Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which Congress created as part of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Court filings show that NYPD Detectives Bolden and Carreira owned partnership interests in a franchise location for a tax preparation business. Between May 2020 and October 2022, Bolden and the others worked with clients to fraudulently obtain PPP funds, with Bolden pursuing, and often obtaining, PPP funds for himself, his co-defendants and more than 65 individuals by helping submit online loan applications that contained materially false and fraudulent information, As part of the scheme, Bolden prepared fictitious Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form Schedule C documentation, which accompanied the loan applications, containing false information about his, his co-defendants’ and his clients’ places of employment, gross income and net income.

Bolden, Johnson and McKenzie were arrested on Monday and appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom that afternoon. Carreira has agreed to surrender at a later date.

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