Three indicted on charges of credit card fraud, loan fraud, tax fraud
Three Chicago-area men were indicted for fraudulently opening credit cards in the names of recently deceased individuals, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois, announced on Monday.
Roosevelt Garrett, Torience Garrett and Franklin Simmons used the multiple credit cards, including two which used the names of former Illinois residents, to make personal purchases as well as to pay of business entities they owned, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The trio did not repay the credit card companies for the purchases.
Roosevelt Garrett, 57, of Itasca, and his brother, Torience Garrett, 53, of Bolingbrook, were also indicted for fraudulently misrepresenting businesses they owned on applications to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, a source of relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo used the funds they received for personal expenses and cash withdrawals, the press release says.
All three of the men were also indicted on various tax fraud allegations. Roosevelt Garrett and Torience Garrett misrepresented the number of employees and the wages paid by companies they owned. Simmons, 64, of Chicago, underreported the income he received from a business he owned which was related to the fraudulent credit card activity.
Roosevelt Garrett and Torience Garrett were each charged with four counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud and four counts of filing false corporate tax returns. Roosevelt Garrett was additionally charged with one count of failing to file an individual tax return, and Torience Garrett was charged with one count of money laundering. Simmons was charged with three counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud and two counts of filing a false individual tax return.
The trio were arraigned in federal court and pleaded not guilty. They are next due in court on Oct. 22.