Florida State Representative indicted for falsely obtaining small business loan

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A Florida lawmaker faces up to 35 many years in prison immediately after he attempted to defraud the Little Enterprise Administration by falsely getting a coronavirus-associated little enterprise loan.

Joseph Harding, 35, of Williston received a 6-depend indictment by a federal grand jury. He is going through two counts of wire fraud, two counts of income laundering, and two counts of earning wrong statements.

Harding allegedly received about $150,000 in cash from the SBA which he was not entitled to.

The indictment promises that Harding offered a fraudulent SBA Economic Harm Disaster Loan application and built bogus representations in his supporting load documentation. It also promises that he established phony financial institution statements for a single of the dormant companies which was used in the supporting documentation.

The optimum phrases of imprisonment for every offense are: 20 decades for Wire Fraud, 10 a long time for money laundering, and 5 yrs for creating wrong statements.

Harding was elected to the Florida Home of Associates in 2020, soon prior to applying for the loans. He was a co-author of the “Parental Legal rights in Education” Bill, also acknowledged as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

A trial for Harding has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 11th.