ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A Central Florida nonprofit ministry is at the center of a suspected multi-million-dollar fraud related to Payroll Protection Program money that was created to help small businesses impacted by COVID-19.
No one from the group has been arrested, but federal investigators believe they received more than $8 million in aid based on bogus information.
The ministry was established in Ohio in 2005, but was registered to an office complex on Orange Blossom Trail earlier this year.
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Neighboring businesses said they never saw anyone working there, or even any deliveries.
When the pandemic hit, and businesses shutdown, the federal government stepped in providing billions in relief through the PPP.
Businesses including churches were eligible to apply.
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Records show Aslan International Ministry, Inc., applied, stating the ministry claimed to have 486 employees. It received more than $8.4 million in PPP money.
But after some of that money was moved from bank account to bank account, the U.S. Secret Service started to investigate the family behind the ministry and behind those accounts: Dr. Evan Edwards, the author of “It’s a Happy Life,” his wife Dr. Mary Edwards and their adult children Joshua and Joy.
Records show that more than $800,000 of the PPP money went for a deposit on a $3.5 million home inside the exclusive Golden Oak community at Walt Disney World.
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Investigators believe the PPP application had false information, and the money paid out to Aslan was obtained by fraud.
In September, the Edwards family was stopped by FDLE officials while heading north on I-75. In the car, they found multiple laptops and tablets, external hard drives, and a document shredder.
Secret service agents attempted to interview them at their New Smyrna Beach home afterward.
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All the money has been seized by the government from the different accounts as part of the investigation in what they’re calling fraud and money laundering.
None of the family members named in the civil court documents have been arrested or charged with any crime.
The family members have some ties to Canada, and records show the four each received $2,000 in COVID-19 relief money from Canada.
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However, officials don’t know where they are now.
The Secret Service declined to comment.
Cox Media Group
