Former Congressional Candidate Sentenced To 30 Months For Wire Fraud - US Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2022) A former candidate for US Congress has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for a fraud scheme involving misappropriating COVID-19 relief funds by wire and for filing a false report with the Federal Elections Commission to hide thousands of Dollars of in-kind contributions by employees, the US Justice Department said.

"Nicholas Jones, 36, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and falsification of records on June 1," the Justice Department said in a press release on Wednesday.

In addition to the 30-month prison sentence, Jones was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and $90,564.

84 in restitution, release said.

Jones was a small business owner who applied for and received $753,600 in COVID-19 relief funds, primarily from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, the release said.

Despite certifying that the funds would only be used for business-related expenditures, Jones used a significant portion of these funds for personal expenses, including car payments, life insurance policies and political advertisements, the release added.