Ex-Eagles RB Pleads Guilty in Federal Loan Fraud Charges

Ex-Eagles RB Pleads Guilty in Federal Fraud Charges Related to Pandemic Aid Programs

Source: Otto Greule Jr / Getty

Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after allegedly submitting fraudulent tax returns and applications for hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic aid programs.

Smallwood filed false tax returns for himself and others in 2021 and 2022, drawing refunds for himself of about $110,000, prosecutors said.

Mark Sheppard, Smallwood’s lawyer, told sources that Smallwood appeared in court Friday “and forthrightly took full responsibility for his actions. He recognizes that this is but the first step to try to begin to make amends to the government and to those closest to him. He will continue to do so.”

In one scheme, Smallwood applied to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program using false information to secure loans for three businesses under his name. The U.S. Small Business Administration approved loans of just over $46,000, prosecutors said.

In another scheme, Smallwood submitted fraudulent applications in the names of at least 13 other people for the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said. A bank disbursed loans of nearly $270,000, from which Smallwood netted additional earning in return for preparing and submitting the applications, prosecutors said.

The Eagles drafted Smallwood out of West Virginia University in 2016, spending three years in Philadelphia before playing for the Steelers, and Commanders.

Smallwood, of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, faces sentencing in May on the three fraud charges.

Ex-Eagles RB Pleads Guilty in Federal Fraud Charges Related to Pandemic Aid Programs was originally published on rnbphilly.com