According to the judiciary, a 90s actor who starred in the hit TV show “Mighty Morphine Power Rangers” has been charged with perpetuating a scheme to defraud the US Government’s Care Act fund.
Austin St. John, who played Red Power Ranger on the show from 1993 to 1995, was one of 18 people charged with fraudulently applying for a loan from a paycheck protection program and transferring it to the two main leaders of the scheme.
St. John’s, whose real name is Jason Giger, allegedly received more than $ 400,000 in fraudulent PPP loans and transferred them to a co-defendant, not intended to use the loans for the intended purpose. According to the DOJ, each of the accused could face up to 20 years in prison.
The Justice Department named Michael Hill and Andrew Moran as alleged leaders of the scheme.
“Hill allegedly hired conspirators to create a business to use an existing business or to submit an application to receive PPP funding,” the Justice Department press release said. “Once enlisted, Moran is alleged to have assisted his co-conspirators in documentation of the application, including the creation of supporting documents and the submission of applications through the online portal.”
The court documents allege that St. John fraudulently transferred PPP 421,000 to the bank account of PPP Lone Hill.
In total, the defendants allegedly embezzled সরকার 3.5 million from the government.
In a statement, St. John’s lawyer said he was not guilty.
“The allegations are not evidence of guilt,” said St. John’s Representative David Klaudt, a lawyer. “All defendants are presumed innocent and Mr. St. John strongly wants to defend himself against these charges.”
Hill and Moran’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
St. John, 47, has repeated his role in several Power Ranger off-shoots over the years, most recently in a guest spot on the 2020 TV show “Power Rangers Beast Morphers”.
The Cares Act, signed into law by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, partly created a 9 669 billion small business loan program – known as the Paycheck Protection Program – to help businesses struggling to pay workers during the Covid-19. Worldwide. The second round of PPP ended in May 2021.
Since the program was created, the DOJ has filed several million-dollar lawsuits alleging PPP fraud.
Red Power Ranger Actor Austin St. John Wire Accused of Fraud Conspiracy
Austin St. John, who was fit to be a Red Power Ranger in the “Mighty Morphine Power Rangers” series of the 90’s, has been arrested by the judiciary for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In a press release Wednesday, St. John, whose legal name is Jason Lawrence Geiger, was among 18 people accused of defrauding defendants with the Small Business Association’s paycheck protection program, earning at least $ 3.5 million in fraudulent funds.
The lawsuit alleges Michael Hill and Andrew Moran, two other defendants, were ringleaders for 16 others to apply for small business loans with forged documents and to raise money for their own personal purchases.
“In the petitions, defendants have been accused of misrepresenting material information such as the actual nature of their business, the number of employees and the amount of pay,” a statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas said.
The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help small businesses struggle during epidemics by providing loans to business owners as needed, as part of the CARES Act passed in 2020.
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The defendants received 16 PPP loans and each could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
St. John, 47, first entered the “Power Rangers” world in 1993 when he played Jason Lee Scott, the Red Power Ranger who led the rest of the crime-fighting team. During the “Power Rangers Geo” TV series in 1996, he was transformed into The Gold Ranger according to IMDB.