Why is it always the Red Ranger?
Austin St. John, a.k.a. Jason Lawrence Geiger, best known for playing the Red Ranger in several seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, is one of 18 people currently charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charges came Tuesday, and are related to the federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program.
As stated, St. John (47) is one of a group of 18 defendants arrested under suspicion of conspiracy, or summoned to appear before a magistrate judge for the charges. If convicted, they could all face up to 20 years in federal prison.
According to the indictment, the group is alleged to have fraudulently acquired 16 loans and roughly $3.5 million in a plan to defraud lenders and the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. Surprisingly, St. John was not the leader; rather, the plan was masterminded by two men, Michael Hill and Andrew Moran.
Hill recruited co-conspirators into the scheme; they either had an existing business, or created one to submit applications and essentially defraud the paycheck protection program. Moran, on the other hand, helped them with the paperwork; both fabricating the documentation and submitting their application forms through the program’s online portal. They didn’t spend the money obtained this way on the things they were supposed to, like employee paychecks, utilities, or health care benefits. Instead, some took the money and either paid Hill and Moran, who would then take the money and place it in personal accounts before spending it on personal purchases. Other times, they would give it to a third man, Jonathon Spencer, who would help them invest it in foreign exchange markets.
The Department of Justice announcement claims that:
On the applications, the defendants are alleged to have misrepresented material information such as the true nature of their business, the number of employees, and the amount of payroll. Based on these material misrepresentations, the SBA and other financial institutions approved and issued loans to the defendants.
The investigation has brought on the efforts of both the FBI and the IRS – Criminal Investigations, alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Eastern District of Texas on the prosecution.
And, yes, they did include “the Red Power Ranger” as one of his aliases. One of the most darkly amusing things I’ve seen in a while.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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