Federal prosecutors have brought four new charges against Columbus businessmen Jabari Edwards and Antwann Richardson.
Edwards and Richardson were indicted in June for allegedly misusing more than $2 million in Paycheck Protection Plan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program funding. In a superseding indictment filed Dec. 6 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, they were each hit with two new counts of wire fraud and two new counts of making false statements.
Previously they were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and seven counts of money laundering. Edwards was also hit for two counts of making false statements.
Those charges stemmed from North Atlantic Security, which at the time was owned by Edwards. The new charges focus on EIDL money Edwards received on behalf of another of his companies, Edwards Enterprises LLC. It is a company incorporated in 2012, and whose most recent filing with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office lists Edwards as the sole member.
Edwards Enterprises, according to the indictment, “… purports to do administrative management and general management consulting services.”
According to the indictment, Edwards lied about the company’s gross income on a tax form and an EIDL loan application.
It alleges he instead needed the money “for personal expenses and to bail out other businesses that needed the loan funds to survive.”
On or about Dec. 8, 2021, Edwards submitted an EIDL loan application to the U.S. Small Business Administration on behalf of Edwards Enterprises for $486,200, the indictment alleges.
“To obtain the loan, Edwards falsely reported that Edwards Enterprises had $464,325 in 2019 income when Edwards Enterprises made little to no income (that year),” the indictment alleges.
It further alleges that Edwards submitted a personal 1040 tax form for the year 2019 that contained false information as part of the documentation for the EIDL loan.
“This tax form was prepared and filed by Edwards’ certified public accountant based on false information provided by Edwards, Richardson or one of their employees,” the indictment states. “Edwards’ CPA did not keep or have access to the Quickbooks account for Edwards Enterprises, as he did for the other J5 Solutions companies, and did not know if a Quickbooks account for Edwards Enterprises existed.”
Edwards Enterprises eventually received a $442,500 EIDL loan, but “… did not use the funds for Edwards Enterprises working capital and business expenses as required. In fact, Edwards and Richardson misused the funds by commingling the funds into other businesses’ bank accounts and using them on unauthorized expenses.”
By April 11, all the money from Edwards Enterprises’ bank account had been transferred to J5 Solutions and J5 GBL accounts, according to the indictment.
The new charges come as Edwards and Richardson’s defense team issued several motions pushing back on the government’s case. Columbus attorney Wilbur O. Colom, representing Edwards’ companies, tried to get forfeiture claims against them dismissed, but was rebuffed by Judge Sharion Aycock.
More recently Edwards and Richardson filed motions to dismiss the charges against them. There has not yet been a ruling on that request.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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