South Florida couple claiming to be farmers plead guilty to $1 million scam
A South Florida couple claiming to be farmers working the land on two tiny suburban lots as they raked in federal COVID-19 relief funds pleaded guilty Monday to a fraud scheme.
Latoya Stanley and Johnny Philus hauled in more than $1 million in Small Business Administration loans while lying that they were struggling to operate not only a couple of nonexistent suburban farms but also a beauty-supply store and an auto-leasing business, according to authorities.
Their SBA loan applications were a fiction, the North Miami couple admitted in federal court. Each faces up to five years in prison on June 2 before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.
Stanley, 38, and Philus, 33, were arrested in August and charged with committing wire fraud and making false statements when they applied for SBA loans under a federal program that provides financial assistance to businesses ailing from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
As in a dozen similar federal fraud cases filed during the pandemic, the two defendants’ SBA loan applications were approved by a bank before being guaranteed by the federal agency. The couple claimed they operated businesses with dozens of employees and payrolls of millions of dollars — before their four loan applications were approved. The bank, which reviewed their Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications, was not identified in a criminal complaint.
In February, a Miami man pleaded guilty to falsifying paperwork to obtain $4 million in SBA loans. He spent a chunk of the money on a Lamborghini.
If Inter Milan vs. Inter Miami sounds like a legal proceeding more than a game between two soccer teams, it’s because it is.
It’s no game when trademark lawyers are involved in a costly international dispute with potentially far-reaching implications. This competition is happening not on a field, but in a court; i.e., the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Who owns “Inter” as a stand-alone description?
It seems such a silly dispute over a rather strange word. When are those two syllables ever uttered in conversation except in reference to the established Italian club or the newer one in Major League Soccer.
What does “inter” even mean? For fun, I googled the definition. Here is what comes up first:
Verb. To place a corpse in a
grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites. “He was interred with the military rites due to him.”
Inter is more commonly seen as a prefix meaning between or among. As in interactive or intermediate.
In any case, David Beckham’s Miami team having to fight for its very name is such a perfect example of the snakebit, nearly cursed manner in which this franchise taxied and took off.
Inter Miami is in training camp now preparing for its second MLS season. Preseason games begin March 20 and the regular season starts April 17.
Nothing has been easy getting to this point. Almost everything has gone wrong.
The Beckham brand is so polished, hardly a blemish. But none of the Beckham starpower and international allure has been able to smooth Inter Miami’s rocky birth and launch.
It was February 2014 when Beckham introduced his intention to bring MLS soccer to Miami.
It took him 4 1⁄2 years to be granted a franchise, an arduous gestation.
He envisioned a scenic waterfront stadium near the Heat’s arena, but couldn’t machete through the labyrinth of local politics to pull it off.
So Beckham struck a deal to build Miami Freedom Park on the old Melreese golf site near Miami International Park, overcoming vociferous public opposition from many.
Then it turned out toxic land around the site would delay the team moving into its new home, so the first season, and now this second one (and maybe the third?), will be played at a quickly built, smaller new stadium on the old Lockhart Stadium site in Fort Lauderdale.
The inaugural season began just as the coronavirus pandemic hit. One minute Inter Miami is planning for a full stadium for its historic home opener. The next minute the world and the season are upside down and no fans are allowed.
Every team in every sport was hurt financially, but none more so than a first-year club like Inter Miami seeing years of buildup and anticipation come to a screeching halt.
Then the team disappointed on the field, too. The starpower Beckham hinted at didn’t materialize and Inter Miami was as ordinary as you’d expect of a first-year team. The record was 7-14 with three draws.
Now as Year 2 unfurls Miami already is on its second coach and second sporting director (a.k.a. general manager).
And here is how the club has been in the news over the past month:
Beckham gets blasted in the European press for reportedly striking a multi-million dollar deal to tout Qatar as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup — Qatar, of the notorious human rights violations such as considering it illegal to be gay there.
MLS investigates Inter Miami over its signing last fall of French international Blaise Matuidi, specifically whether Matuidi was paid additional money in violation of the league’s salary-budget guidelines.
Now: Inter Miami vs. Inter Milan.
The Italian club laid claim to “Inter” with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office in 2014. MLS on behalf of Inter Miami objected to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. The two sides are said to be trying to reach an agreement.
Said Inter Miami in a statement: “The dispute focuses on whether Inter Milan can claim an exclusive trademark ownership of, and the right to use, the commonly used term “Inter” standing alone in commercial activity. The litigation does not concern the brand name or brand marks for Inter Miami CF. The club is not in jeopardy of changing its trademarkapproved name or marks.”
So Inter Miami is safe as the club’s name, but Milan fights to own “Inter” as a stand-alone description to more easily monetize the North American market.
So why then is this case significant and potentially far-reaching?
“The Inter trademark application in the U.S. is kind of the next step in the evolution of the global brand for soccer clubs and the effective invasion of the U.S.,” as UCLA sports law professor Steven Bank told The New York Times. “If Inter can claim the term ‘Inter,’ and that’s all they’ve asked for, then Real Madrid could claim ‘Real’ and Manchester United, in theory, could claim ‘United.’ ”
It’s just another very costly example of the myriad ways the launch of David Beckham’s Inter Miami has had a rough go as the second season nears.
When his expansion team got off to the worst start in MLS history last year Beckham said something that has been true all along his Inter Miam climb, from February 2014 to today:
“Sometimes the road is long. Manchester United, Real Madrid, La Liga and the premiership wasn’t built in a day. Teams, players and clubs need time to flourish but when they do, all the hard times seem so distant. It’s important to take time to reflect on what we have achieved so far. I’m proud of my team, our club and the amazing fans that we have. Patience is a virtue.”