Atlanta Man Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud After Receiving Covid Benefits Not Entitled To Him

Earlier this year, the Atlanta man who falsely claimed to his employer that he was diagnosed with Covid-19 has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge on Monday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said that the claim cost the company about $100,000 because the company had to temporarily close its facility and have four co-workers quarantine.

In May 2020 Santwon Antonio Davis, 35, was charged and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said, “The defendant caused unnecessary economic loss to his employer and distress to his coworkers and their families.”

According to Pak, the charges and other information presented in court: Davis falsely claimed to have contracted COVID-19 and submitted a falsified medical record to his employer. In concern for its employees and customers, the corporation closed its facility for cleaning and paid its employees during the shutdown.

Officials say that agents discovered a previous occurrence during the COVID-19 fraud investigation, in which the defendant submitted false paperwork to receive benefits from his employer. In particular, investigators said Davis produced and submitted fraudulent documents in the fall of 2019 to support a paid bereavement leave claim for his child’s death. This child never existed and was fabricated so that the defendant could get benefits to which he was not entitled.

While on pretrial release, officials say Davis submitted several false claims, including falsified earnings and work records to a mortgage application. In part, after seeing the news articles linked to his initial COVID-19 fee, the mortgage company discovered the fraud.

Special Agent, Chris Hacker in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said: “Davis’ streak of lies ended when he took advantage of a pandemic to cause undue harm to the company he worked for and their employees.”

Davis also pleaded guilty to bank fraud related to a scheme to defraud a mortgage company while he was on bond for the earlier COVID-19 wire fraud charge. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.