SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 25, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah County businessman is accused of fraudulently obtaining $1.8 million in COVID-19 relief funds for two of his companies.
Robert Blake Molling, 41, of Lehi, was arrested Monday after being indicted by a federal grand jury March 20 for wire fraud.
Court documents say Molling fraudulently applied for COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds for two of his companies from March 2020 to April 2022.
Congress allocated the funds for the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to eligible small businesses going through financial disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Molling lied about his criminal history, falsely claiming that he had no criminal convictions other than minor traffic violations, court documents state.
Molling faces seven counts of wire fraud. His initial court appearance on the indictment is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
The case is being investigated by the Utah Federal COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force, which includes Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Office of Inspector General’s U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
On May 17, 2021, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice and enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF web complaint form.
