Florida father, son who ran ministry arrested over alleged $8 million PPP loan fraud

Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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A Florida father and son were arrested Wednesday on federal fraud charges after federal prosecutors said they defrauded a COVID-19 business relief program out of $8.4 million and tried to buy a multi-million dollar home near Walt Disney World, court filings show.

Evan Edwards and his son Joshua Edwards ran Aslan International Ministry Inc., a nonprofit that “purportedly provided religious services,” according to the indictment.

In April 2020, prosecutors said the ministry submitted a fraudulent loan application to the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to offer forgivable loans to help businesses cover payroll and other expenses to stay afloat during the pandemic, and ultimately obtained $8,417,200 in PPP funding.

Pastor Evan Edwards, family sought luxury home, prosecutors say

A federal indictment and court records detail the following allegations against the minister and his family:

  • Evan and Josh submitted fake IRS tax return forms, lied about the ministry employing close to 486 people and claimed average monthly payroll expenses of over $2.7 million in order to be approved for the loans.

  • The family put $868,250 of the $8.4 million toward the purchase of a $3.7 million home in an upscale Orlando, Florida neighborhood. and the remaining $7.5 million went into Bank of America bank accounts held by the Church of Florida Inc.

  • Investigators from the Secret Service visited the ministry’s office address, and found it was unoccupied. Neighbors told investigators they hadn’t seen any activity in the building.

  • A man listed as the ministry’s director in the PPP loan application hadn’t worked with Aslan since 2012 and was unaware that his name still appeared in its business records.

  • An accountant who purportedly signed the ministry's falsified IRS forms had dementia and hadn’t done accounting since 2017.

This is the New Smyrna Beach home where Evan and Joshua Edwards were arrested Wednesday morning by federal authorities. Joshua Edwards defrauded the government by filing a fraudulent application for $8.4 million under the Paycheck Protection Program in April 2020, according to the Department of Justice.
This is the New Smyrna Beach home where Evan and Joshua Edwards were arrested Wednesday morning by federal authorities. Joshua Edwards defrauded the government by filing a fraudulent application for $8.4 million under the Paycheck Protection Program in April 2020, according to the Department of Justice.

How investigation into Asian International Ministry began to unfold

In the fall of 2020, Secret Service agents executed a search warrant on  the Edwards' family home, an hour northeast of Orlando, and found it had been completely cleared out, according to the complaint.

The next day, members of the Edwards family, including Evan and Joshua, , were pulled over for speeding on a Florida highway.

The family told the officer they were on their way to Texas for a conference.

The car was packed with suitcases, a Faraday bag containing laptops and tablets, two clear garbage bags filled with shredded documents and a document shredder, according to the complaint.

Authorities eventually obtained a search warrant for the items in the car.

A forensic exam revealed the seized electronics “saved media reports of SBA fraud cases involving religious organizations and media articles pertaining to recent SBA loan fraud investigations” and other evidence, according to the complaint.

Authorities seized the funds in late 2020.

Forfeiture and arrests

A federal judge ordered the forfeiture of the $8.4 million in April 2021, according to a Department of Justice news release, which also accused Mary and Joy of defrauding the government. But the Edwards family, as NBC News reported last year, somehow managed to escape criminal prosecution, even as the DOJ began cracking down on similar PPP loan fraud cases.

The father and son now face six federal counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and visa fraud.

A federal court database did not list a lawyer for either Wednesday.

An inquiry from USA TODAY to the DOJ was not immediately returned Wednesday.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FL father, son who ran ministry charged in $8 million PPP fraud scheme