According to Click Orlando, a federal grand jury indicted a Central Florida state representative, Joseph Harding, on Wednesday for his role in a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration’s emergency coronavirus loan program.
The site reported,
The U.S. Department of Justice said Harding, 35, created bank accounts for dormant business entities and used them to apply for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans. The indictment accuses Harding of obtaining and attempting to obtain more than $150,000 from the SBA, which was deposited into two bank accounts.
Harding is facing charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements. The wire fraud charge alone has a maximum federal prison sentence of 20 years. The money laundering charge has a maximum prison sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
The US Attorney for Northern Florida issued a press release giving details of Harding's criminality. Here are the highlights,
The Indictment alleges that Harding made and caused to be made false and fraudulent SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications, and made false representations in supporting loan documentation, in the names of dormant business entities, submitted to the SBA.
The Indictment further alleges that Harding obtained fraudulently created bank statements for one of the dormant business entities which were used as supporting documentation for one of his fraudulent EIDL loan applications. By this conduct, the indictment alleges that Harding fraudulently obtained and attempted to obtain more than $150,000 in funds from the SBA to which he was not entitled.
Harding is also charged with two counts of engaging in monetary transactions with funds derived from unlawful activity related to his transfer of the fraudulently obtained EIDL proceeds into two bank accounts, and two counts of making false statements to the SBA.
This is a typical story of a crook trying to get money he is not entitled to. And it is no surprise that Harding lives in Florida, a state well documented in fact and fiction as a home to many who cross the line from legal endeavors to full-blown criminality.
However, there is more to Harris than his middling grift. He is not a faceless member of Florida’s legislative crowd — he is a shining star in the Republican firmament. And he is the author of the Parental Rights in Education Law. Or, as it is better and more infamously known, the “Don’t Say Gay” Law.
The Florida House GOP rewarded his efforts to promote homophobia against the state’s most vulnerable population by naming him vice chair of the Florida House Health and Human Services Committee and vice chair of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee.
However, after his indictment, House Speaker Paul Renner removed Harding from all of his committee assignments, saying in a statement,
“I am temporarily removing him from his committee assignments to allow him time to focus on this matter. In America we adhere to the rule of law, and as such, Representative Harding is presumed innocent and will have the opportunity to plead his case before a court.”
Paint me a cynic, but I suspect Harding’s true crime in Renner’s eyes was that the Feds caught him. Renner also extends the courtesy of presuming Harding is innocent until proven guilty because he is a fellow Republican. I am sure that had Harding been a Democrat, the cry from the right would have been an emphatic “lock him up.”
I also believe that Harding will far more likely hear a guilty verdict than not. Financial crimes rely on documents. And documents, unlike eyewitnesses and fuzzy recordings, are usually indisputable and invariable clear.
And on that note let me say, good. He can feck off to prison and reflect on his hate.
Harding made his first appearance at the US Courthouse in Gainesville Wednesday and was released ahead of a trial which the Court scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8:30 a.m.
Should he ultimately be found guilty and sentenced to prison, Harding will be able to see a lot of his old mates.