A Miami man had a ticket to leave the U.S. after a $492,000 COVID-19 fraud, feds say

David J. Neal
·2 min read
17

A Miami man had a ticket to ride an international flight, and federal prosecutors cared because they say they have the receipts on a COVID-19 relief fraud.

The FBI arrested Emmanuel Bully Jr., 44, before he could board his flight Wednesday. Bully was indicted Thursday on six counts of wire fraud, one count for each of the COVID relief loans the indictment says Bully received through four companies. Those loans, the indictment says, totaled $492,335.

Bully has yet to enter a plea, according to the online case docket.

READ MORE: A Miami-Dade police officer pleaded guilty to $275,000 COVID-19 relief scam

The alleged COVID-19 relief scam

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic started shutting down parts of the U.S. economy in March 2020, the federal government started offering relief loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs.

Bully is accused of what’s become the basic COVID-19 loan scam.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade Corrections sergeant pleads guilty to COVID-19 fraud

▪ An April 29, 2020 application for a PPP loan, the indictment says, contained falsities about MB Tax Services Consultants average monthly payroll and got Bully $20,835.

▪ State records say Manny Bully registered MB Tax Consultants on May 9, 2018, let it dissolve by not making the annual filing in 2019, then reinstated it on Feb. 24, 2020. The indictment says he applied for a PPP loan for the Delray Beach company on May 6, 2020, by lying about the average monthly payroll and got $62,500.

▪ The indictment says Bully “controls” MB Tax Services, though state records don’t show Bully as the person who registered the Plant City company or as any of the managers over the years. That didn’t prevent him, the indictment says, from fibbing about MB Tax Services’ gross revenues on a May 22, 2020, EIDL loan application. The loan was approved for $36,900.

▪ A June 19, 2020, EIDL application for MB Tax Consultants got approved, the indictment says, on a lie about the company’s gross revenues. That was worth $134,400.

READ MORE: He swindled the pandemic relief program. He rented a Bentley. He’s going to prison

▪ The indictment says Bully lied about the gross revenues of a Boynton Beach sole proprietorship on a July 17, 2020, EIDL loan application, Emmanuel B, and got $47,800.

▪ The final loan the indictment alleges was over a year later, Sept. 27, 2021, an EIDL loan for $189,900 for MB Tax Services. Court documents say Bully used the Employer Identification Number and corporate address for one of his Palm Beach-based companies — along with the aforementioned companies, Bully operated MBJ Property Holdings in Delray Beach at the time — and his personal information on the application.

“In the EIDL application, Bully falsely represented the corporation’s gross revenues were $114,900,” the criminal complaint said. “In reality, the corporation was not an active, functioning corporation and did not have any gross revenues. It was not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”