{"id":256663,"date":"2026-06-05T18:54:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256663\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:54:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:54:44","slug":"six-charged-in-alleged-11m-pandemic-relief-fraud-scheme-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256663\/","title":{"rendered":"Six charged in alleged $11M pandemic relief fraud scheme \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six individuals, including members of the same family, have been arraigned<\/a> on charges connected to an alleged scheme that prosecutors say fraudulently obtained nearly $11 million through pandemic relief programs and a construction loan.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez<\/a> announced the charges alongside representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The defendants are accused of using falsified documents to secure millions of dollars intended to help businesses survive the economic impacts of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The defendants identified by prosecutors are Gregory Derney Harvey, 61, and Gregory Norris James Harvey Jr., 33, both of Florida; Vaughn Harvey, 44, of Queens; Michelle Harvey, 57, of Brooklyn; Leroy Smith, 78, of Valley Stream; and John McAulay, 57, of Schenectady. Prosecutors said Gregory Derney Harvey is the father of Gregory Norris James Harvey Jr. and Vaughn Harvey, and the brother of Michelle Harvey.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, the group allegedly submitted fraudulent loan applications through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program between April 2020 and October 2022. Investigators allege the applications relied on fake tax returns, fabricated payroll records and fraudulent bank statements submitted on behalf of numerous corporations. <\/p>\n

Authorities claim the scheme generated more than $6.9 million in pandemic relief funds.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThese defendants allegedly stole millions of dollars from programs meant to help struggling businesses survive the pandemic. As alleged, they submitted fake records and phony loan applications to obtain public and bank funds,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWe will continue to investigate and prosecute those who exploited critical emergency relief programs for personal gain during a global emergency.\u201d <\/p>\n

Investigators further allege that Gregory Derney Harvey and Gregory Norris James Harvey Jr. combined approximately $2.4 million from the \u201calleged fraud proceeds\u201d and used the money as a down payment to secure a construction loan, resulting in an additional alleged theft of more than $4 million. <\/p>\n

The six defendants face 31-counts of various charges, including conspiracy, grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, falsifying business records and money laundering. <\/p>\n

Anthony P. D\u2019Esposito, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor, said his department \u201cwill not tolerate\u201d the theft.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis indictment alleges the exploitation of critical pandemic relief programs intended to support American workers in a time of national crisis. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar stolen from honest, hardworking Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cWe remain committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to combat this criminal activity and hold accountable those who seek to exploit these government programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendell Davis, General Counsel for the Small Business Administration, highlighted the cooperation among agencies involved in the case.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is the product of enhanced efforts by federal agencies such as the Small Business Administration working with the Brooklyn District Attorney\u2019s Office and state and Federal law enforcement agencies to recover the product of this fraud,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

Gregory Derney Harvey and Gregory Norris James Harvey Jr. were arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on June 5. The remaining four defendants were arraigned on May 26. All six were released without bail and are scheduled to return to court on Aug. 12.<\/p>\n

The investigation involved the Brooklyn District Attorney\u2019s Office, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Small Business Administration and the SBA Office of Inspector General, among other agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six individuals, including members of the same family, have been arraigned on charges connected to an alleged scheme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,419,5514,303,3777,100006,90418,73075,100007,396,8041,9877,9,24,10,12,370,63,100008,100009,81703,18542,49232,100010],"class_list":["post-256663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-courts","tag-covid-19","tag-crime","tag-criminal-justice","tag-district-attorney-eric-gonzalez","tag-economic-injury-disaster-loan","tag-federal-investigation","tag-financial-crime","tag-fraud","tag-law-enforcement","tag-local-government","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-pandemic-relief","tag-ppp-loans","tag-public-corruption","tag-small-business-administration","tag-u-s-department-of-labor","tag-white-collar-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}