Fake PACs, COVID loans net Nevada man $1.4 million, feds say. Now he’s prison-bound

Don Sweeney
·1 min read

A Las Vegas man accused of stealing $1.4 million through election- and pandemic-related scams will serve nearly 4 years in prison, federal officials say.

James Kyle Bell, 44, pleaded guilty in May to wire fraud in the case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a news release. He was sentenced Monday, Dec. 6.

Bell registered two sham political action committees with federal authorities, prosecutors said. The “Keep America Great Committee,” appeared to support Donald Trump, while the “Best Days Lie Ahead Committee” supposedly supported Joe Biden.

The fake PACs sent out 40,000 solicitations for donations to aid the presidential campaigns, promising 5x matches, the release said. More than 2,000 people donated to the PACs before the 2020 presidential election.

In reality, prosecutors said the $346,000 raised by both PACs went to Bell’s bank accounts, with no matching donations.

Bell also applied for multiple Paycheck Protection Program loans for COVID-19 relief for businesses that did not exist, the release said.

He raked in $1.1 million from four loans, and applied for another $521,000 but withdrew that application, prosecutors said. That money also went into his personal back accounts.

The government has seized $519,000 of the stolen money and Bell must repay the rest as a condition of his sentence, the release said.

‘I’m gonna be rich.’ Man offered fake COVID vaccine cards at ‘$75 a pop,’ feds say

Teacher at California ‘Tax School’ taught students how to scam tax refunds, feds say

Woman fell victim to romance scammers — then she became one herself, feds say

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Is Mike Trout stealing bases a double-edge sword? | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

    Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman discuss Mike Trout’s return after a left hamate injury and whether or not they’re excited to see him steal more bases this season. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

  • Intuitive Surgical Reverses Lower On Expected 'Choppiness' For Its Pivotal Launch

    Intuitive Surgical stock fell early Friday, reversing previous gains, as analysts cautioned its da Vinci 5 launch will be slow.

  • Appeal court denies Lance Blanchard's bid to overturn dangerous offender conviction

    The Court of Appeal of Alberta has rejected violent sexual offender Lance Blanchard's appeal of his conviction and sentence in a case that concluded with him being designated as a dangerous offender.Blanchard, who is in his 60s, has been serving an indeterminate prison sentence since 2018, when the trial judge designated him as a dangerous offender. Prosecutors sought the designation after Blanchard's conviction for a 2014 aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful confinement.The justic

  • Police: Injured man found in parking lot of elementary school prompts brief lockdown

    Police: Injured man found in parking lot of elementary school prompts brief lockdown

  • Trapped B.C. orca calf seen taking '40 pounds of seal' from First Nation members

    ZEBALLOS, B.C. — A young killer whale trapped in a B.C. lagoon appears to have fed on chunks of seal meat thrown into the water, as preparations continue for a rescue attempt. A video posted on Facebook shows the young female whale with distinctive pale skin taking two large pieces of meat, then diving below the surface. The person who posted the video late Thursday says it shows members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation feeding the whale "nearly 40 pounds of seal." Veterinarians have been closely

  • S&P 500 extends losing streak to sixth day, Dow up 210 points

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is the lone leader among market indexes, closing the trading week higher by a mere 0.01% and rising by 210 points in Friday's session. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) extend their losing streaks to their sixth consecutive days. Market Domination Overtime Anchor Julie Hyman looks back on today's market activity while keeping a close eye on a handful of top trending stocks. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination Overtime. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

  • Lillard practices fully and Antetokounmpo remains out of live drills as Bucks prepare for playoffs

    MILWAUKEE (AP) — Damian Lillard practiced fully but Giannis Antetokounmpo remained out of live drills Friday as the Milwaukee Bucks continued getting ready for Sunday’s playoff opener against the Indiana Pacers. Lillard is dealing with a sore adductor that limited him the last weekend of the regular season, while Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks’ final three regular-season games with a strained left calf. Although Bucks President Peter Feigin told Milwaukee radio station WKLH that Antetokounmpo “d

  • 14-year-old convicted for joyride that led to deadly Woodland crash; but not on murder charges

    Yolo County prosecutors had sought murder charges for the deaths of a 4-year-old girl and her grandmother.

  • The Bad News Heading Into AbbVie's First-Quarter Earnings Report

    AbbVie stock has slumped 9% off its record high in March and is facing increasingly steep competition for its biggest moneymaker, Humira.

  • NCAA approves helmet communication, sideline tablets, two-minute warning for college football

    The NCAA approved the use of helmet communiation devices and sideline tablets for college football next season. Additionally, a two-minute warning will be incorporated into gameplay.

  • Zelensky says NATO must decide if alliance and Ukraine ‘indeed are allies’

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that NATO must choose whether it really is an ally of Ukraine by accelerating weapons supplies to help his struggling forces. "Our sky must become safe again," Zelensky said during a video conference with NATO defence ministers."It depends fully on your choice. Choice whether life is indeed equally valuable everywhere. Choice whether you have an equal attitude to all partners. Choice whether we indeed are allies," he said. Casting a bleak pictur

  • Wintry Weather Hits St Paul

    Snow pellets came down on St Paul on Friday, April 19, on what weather officials called “another brisk and windy day” for parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.The National Weather Service (NWS) warned parts of the region could see isolated snow showers on Friday afternoon.Footage taken by Sarah West shows ice pellets hitting Macalester College in St Paul on Friday.A freeze warning was in effect until Saturday morning, with the NWS encouraging residents to “take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold” as temperatures were expected to fall below freezing overnight. Credit: Sarah West via Storyful

  • UPDATE 1-Mexico's Slim eyes $7.7 billion investment in Brazil in coming years

    Mexican magnate Carlos Slim is considering investing more than 40 billion reais ($7.70 billion) in Brazil in the coming years, he said on Friday, after meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia. Slim, whose family controls telecommunications giant America Movil, said the investments would be made in Brazil's 5G and fiber-optic networks. America Movil-owned Claro is a huge player in the South American country's telecom sector.

  • Initiative 'led by survivors to uncover the truth'

    THUNDER BAY – Residential school survivors gathered at a hotel on Highway 61 this week to discuss their experiences and how the Bringing Our Children Home Initiative should move forward. The initiative, also named Bikiiwewinig Nindawaashishiiminaanak, is investigating the possibility of unmarked graves where the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School once operated. Bringing Our Children Home “was created and led by survivors to uncover the truth,” Lac Seul Chief Clifford Bull said Thursday durin

  • 70s and low 80s expected for weekend

    70s and low 80s expected for weekend

  • Fed says 1,804 banks and other institutions tapped emergency lending facility

    About 95% of the borrowers, which included banks, credit unions, savings associations, and branches and agencies of foreign banks, had less than $10 billion in assets, the U.S. central bank said in its semi-annual Financial Stability Report. The Bank Term Funding Program, as it was called, was aimed at addressing a liquidity crunch after a run on deposits led to the failures of SVB and Signature Bank and forced financial authorities to stage a rescue of the sector.

  • Port Moody honours Robert Simons with Freedom of the City award

    Before Wednesday night, it would have been hard to describe Robert Simons in a short sentence. The long-time Port Moody resident has served as a volunteer, committee member, board member, provincial appointee, vice-president and president of a dizzying amount of community, academic and non-profit organizations. Port Moody bestowed Simons with the highest honour it can give a resident on April 17, awarding him the Freedom of the City medal along with a key to the city. “My last love is giving bac

  • US State Dept 'fully expects' to finalize new AUKUS trade exemptions in next 120 days

    The U.S. State Department said on Friday it fully expects to finalize new trade exemptions for the AUKUS defense project with Australia and Britain over the next 120 days. "Exemptions in our export control systems, within a framework of shared standards with Australia and the UK, are key to harnessing and maximizing the innovative power residing in our defense industrial bases," the department said in a statement. "We fully expect to finalize the new trade exemptions – based on stakeholder input – over the course of the next 120 days," it said.

  • Stock market today: Tumbling tech stocks drag Wall Street to the finish line of another losing week

    NEW YORK (AP) — The worst week for big technology stocks since the COVID crash in 2020 dragged Wall Street across the finish line of another losing week. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% Friday to close out its third straight losing week. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has less of an emphasis on tech, was an outlier and rose 0.6%. The market’s worst performers included several stocks that had been its biggest stars. Super Micro Computer lost more than a fifth of it

  • The Latest | Judge agrees to seal 4 pieces of evidence in hush money trial

    NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated on Friday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case. The completion of jury selection sets the stage for opening statements in the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president to begin Monday, as well as weeks of testimony in a case charging Trump with falsifying business records to suppress stories about his sex life emerging in the final days of the 2016 election. The jury includes a sales professional,