{"id":785346,"date":"2026-07-26T10:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/785346\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T10:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:54:12","slug":"fbi-most-wanted-fraud-suspect-arrested-in-jamaica-over-alleged-32m-covid-19-relief-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/785346\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI ‘Most Wanted’ fraud suspect arrested in Jamaica over alleged $32M COVID-19 relief scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the FBI\u2019s most wanted alleged COVID-19 fraud fugitives<\/a> has been returned to the United States after authorities captured her in\u00a0Jamaica, where FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital she had been living under the fake identity \u201cHarley Newman\u201d while evading charges tied to a $32 million pandemic relief fraud scheme.<\/p>\n

Elaine Angene Escoe, 41, arrived back in South Florida Thursday after Jamaican authorities arrested her following a federal manhunt.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege she helped fraudulently obtain more than $32 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds before fleeing the country after failing to appear in federal court.<\/p>\n

Escoe was indicted in 2025 on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and multiple counts of money laundering, according to the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Florida.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors said a judge issued an arrest warrant after Escoe failed to appear in court in May 2025.<\/p>\n

Federal agents hold Elaine Angene Escoe for a photo after her arrest and return to the US. FBI<\/p>\n

Elaine Angene Escoe, 41, was arrested in Jamaica and returned to the United States to face COVID-19 fraud charges. Federal Bureau of Investigation<\/p>\n

Authorities allege she fled to Jamaica, where she was later located and arrested after the FBI received a tip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Most Wanted Fraudster allegedly obtained tens of millions in COVID-19 relief, stealing critical resources from legitimate businesses during a national crisis,\u201d Acting Attorney General\u00a0Todd Blanche\u00a0told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe fled the country believing she could escape justice but ultimately could not,\u201d he continued. \u201cThose who exploit taxpayer-funded programs will be held accountable by this\u00a0Department of Justice, no matter how long it takes or where they attempt to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Patel called Escoe\u2019s arrest another milestone in the\u00a0FBI\u2019s international fraud crackdown, saying she is the fourth alleged \u201cMost Wanted Fraudster\u201d captured in the past five weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe historic success of the \u2018Most Wanted Fraudster\u2019 list continues as the FBI and our partners just captured our fourth Most Wanted Fraudster in 5 weeks, and yet another high value target returned to the US by this FBI,\u201d Patel said. \u201cElaine Angene Escoe, on the run since May 2025, was captured in Jamaica while living under a fake identity of \u2018Harley Newman\u2019 \u2014 and returned to the United States today to face justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escoe allegedly stole over $32 million in COVID relief fraud from the federal government in a scheme. FBI<\/p>\n

Escoe was indicted in 2025 on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and multiple counts of money laundering. FBI<\/p>\n

Patel said Escoe is charged with being involved in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering connected to a scheme that fraudulently obtained more than $32 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds.<\/p>\n

He added that the FBI has returned more than 30 high-value targets to the US since June.<\/p>\n

Patel said four alleged fraud suspects captured over the past five weeks are collectively charged with nearly $1.8 billion in fraud after spending more than 3,500 days on the run across three continents.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder this administration, fraud is no longer tolerated \u2014 and those who steal from American taxpayers have nowhere to hide,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the US Marshals Service, Jamaican law enforcement and the Palm Beach County State Attorney\u2019s Office coordinated Escoe\u2019s return to the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the FBI\u2019s most wanted alleged COVID-19 fraud fugitives has been returned to the United States after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,26644,2765,6884,14111,48296,3,21,19,22,20,25,194,24,965],"class_list":["post-785346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-arrests","tag-fbi","tag-fraud","tag-jamaica","tag-kash-patel","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}