BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (AP/WDTV) – A former West Virginia University and Philadelphia Eagles running back has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.
In October, Wendell Smallwood, Jr., 30, was accused of submitting fraudulent tax returns and applications for hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic aid programs.
The signed plea agreement, which includes three fraud charges, was approved Friday by a federal judge in Delaware.
Smallwood filed false tax returns for himself and others in 2021 and 2022, drawing refunds for himself of about $110,000, prosecutors said. He also used defunct or recently registered businesses and provided false information about the scale of their operations, such as start dates, revenue amounts, expenses and number of employees.
In one scheme, Smallwood used false information when he applied to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program for loans for three businesses under his name. The U.S. Small Business Administration approved loans of just over $46,000, prosecutors said.
In a separate scheme, Smallwood submitted fraudulent applications in the names of at least 13 other people for the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said. A bank disbursed loans of nearly $270,000, from which Smallwood received kickbacks in return for preparing and submitting the applications, prosecutors said.
Smallwood will be sentenced on the three charges in May.
His lawyer, Mark Sheppard, said Smallwood appeared in court Friday “and forthrightly took full responsibility for his actions. He recognizes that this is but the first step to try to begin to make amends to the government and to those closest to him. He will continue to do so.”
The Eagles drafted Smallwood out of West Virginia University in 2016. The Delaware native played three seasons for the Eagles before spending time over three more seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the team now known as the Washington Commanders.
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