Former New York Jets wide receiver Joshua Bellamy was charged Thursday for fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program loan and spending the money on luxury items, including Gucci, Dior and dropping $63,000 at a Florida casino, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Bellamy, 31 of St. Petersburg, Florida, allegedly obtained a PPP loan of $1.2 million for his company, Drip Entertainment. Federal prosecutors in Florida say he spent over $104,000 of the funds on a lavish lifestyle.
He allegedly spent $57,000 at a custom jewelry store, nearly $5,400 at a Gucci store and roughly $63,000 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida.
Mr. Bellamy is also said to have withdrawn more than $302,000 in fraudulent funds from his bank account.
“In just over two months’ time, Bellamy spent nearly all of the remaining loan proceeds,” prosecutors wrote in a criminal complaint. “Based on my review of the bank records, it does not appear that much, if any of the proceeds went to business or payroll-related expenditures.”
Mr. Bellamy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mr. Bellamy is allegedly part of a group of 11 people who fraudulently sought more than $24 million in PPP grants.
Those individuals are accused of preparing at least 90 fraudulent PPP applications seeing taxpayer funds from the program designed to help small businesses weather the financial havoc caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Of those applications, 42 were approved for roughly $17.4 million, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors said the defendants falsified bank statements and payroll tax forms, but the applications caught regulators’ attention because they were too similar.
“The conspirators used nearly identical versions of the same fabricated bank statements, recycled in the PPP applications for multiple companies with minor changes,” prosecutors wrote.
Mr. Bellamy was arrested Thursday. He is charged with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.
The charges come on the same day the Justice Department said that it has charged 57 people with trying to steal more than $175 million in PPP loans since May.
The $600 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) launched in April to aid small businesses negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
An eight-year veteran of the NFL, Mr. Bellamy was released by the New York Jets last week. His best season was 2017 when as a member of the Chicago Bears, he made 24 receptions for 376 yards.
In 2018, he recorded a 34-yard catch that set up Chicago’s only touchdown in a playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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