BSO deputy sentenced to prison for COVID-19 relief fraud

Broward County, Florida. – Alexandra Acosta, a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy and SWAT team member, was sentenced in federal court on Tuesday for fraudulently applying for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acosta, 38, of Tamarac, was sentenced to four months in prison. A jury had previously convicted her of one count of conspiracy to defraud the Small Business Administration (“SBA”), two counts of making false statements to the SBA, and one count of wire fraud.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in 2021, Acosta “conspired with her tax preparer, Wilsent St. Louis, to apply for and obtain a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for herself as a sole proprietor conducting business as a real estate agent using false information about her average monthly earnings in 2019, including through two false IRS tax forms submitted with the application.”

Acosta also sought and was forgiven a fraudulently obtained PPP loan, the principal and interest of which totaled more than $20,000, prosecutors said.

In addition to the prison sentence, Acosta also had to pay a $4,000 fine. Prosecutors confirmed that he had previously repaid the fraudulently obtained loan money.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, St. Louis pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and was sentenced for his participation in the scheme.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud related to COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) hotline at 866-720-5721 or through the NCDF web complaint form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.