In a statement Saturday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd announced that the final defendant in a six-defendant fraud scheme that submitted fraudulent applications seeking more than $6.8 million in COVID benefits was convicted late Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
According to the statement, Jahri Asad Cunningham, 48, of Houston, Texas, is the brother of the scheme’s mastermind, Paradise Williams.
According to the statement, Cunningham worked with his sister Paradise to pose as landlords in need of funds to be administered by King County to prevent the eviction of tenants.
Floyd said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, “the two worked hand in glove to defraud a variety of relief programs.”
According to the court, Cunningham received $344,240 from the scheme, and the group collected more than $3.3 million.
The entire group collected more than $3.3 million. U.S.
According to the statement, Cunningham will remain in custody until his sentencing, which is scheduled for November 2.
“They created fake tenants, they created fake documents, they created fake eviction notices for their fake tenants,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Watts Staniar told the jury in closing argument. “And every dollar that went to a fraudster was a dollar that could not go to a family in need.”
According to the statement, this is not Cunningham’s first run-in with the law. In 2016, Cunningham was convicted in the Western District of Washington and sentenced to 75 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
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