From The AJC
Celebrities, entertainers and business leaders are among 19 people recently indicted in Georgia on charges that they defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program for a total of more than $3 million.
The seven separate indictments each link the fraudulent loan applications to a single Atlanta-based business consultant who was paid a “success fee” for each loan as it was awarded.
Among those indicted were: Ion Overman, an actress who appeared in the early-2000s TV series “Port Charles,” as well as “Desperate Housewives” and Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail”; Carlos “Clos” Stephens, a music producer and consultant who has worked with Master P and Little Romeo; Dale Godboldo, an actor who appeared in “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” “Thor” and awards-season darling “The Year of the Dog”; and Marvin Lewton, a media personality covering hip-hop known as OG Shadi Powers.
One defendant, Mark C. Mason Jr., of Atlanta, was charged independently but also named in the six other lawsuits as an “unindicted co-conspirator,” according to court documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Mason is accused of submitting fraudulent PPP loan applications for two of his own businesses, Atlanta Business Capital and Advocate Business Capital, and receiving a total of nearly $600,000, the documents show. In the other related indictments, he is accused of assisting those defendants in submitting PPP loan applications based on false information. If the loans were awarded, he was paid a “success fee” of between 2-5%, the documents said.
