Four TN Pastors Indicted In COVID Relief Fraud Scheme

Memphis’s Fox affiliate reports:

Four Mid-South pastors, including three from Memphis, and several business owners were indicted Tuesday in alleged schemes to steal thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief money, officials said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Tennessee, they collectively defrauded more than $950,000 from federal programs, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

On Wednesday, FOX13 approached Pastor Cleveland Wells near his church. “The way it looks, it looks incriminating,” Wells said in an interview. “But it’s not the way it looks and that’s I can really say about that.” FOX13 also found that Pastor Brown is listed as a chaplain for the Memphis Tigers’ basketball team.

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