Criminals cash in on COVID-19 relief funds to stock up on guns and drugs
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV)- For three weeks, a massive donation of $100,000 appeared to have helped New Hampshire’s first coronavirus relief fund.
But in a twist of irony, the money ended up going to criminals seeking to bolster drug and gun sales.
“Some of the money went to illegal gun sales. It was not used to help New Hampshire,” Rep. John Sullivan of Wolfeboro told WSMV.
“It got into a scheme to sell guns from New Hampshire,” Sullivan said. “The criminals made money.”
The state’s first coronavirus relief fund collected $101,000 last week, Sullivan said. It spent another $99,000 — but it didn’t get into the hands of all those who were expected to use the funds.
A law firm in Knoxville, Tennessee, was one of two entities awarded grants from the New Hampshire fund, Sullivan said. The firm was later awarded a contract by the state to manage the relief fund’s account, he said.
“The state gave us $100,000 that was supposed to go towards the relief fund,” Sullivan said. “A few days later, they said ‘you have been awarded this grant.’ So we had to wait for that money to arrive, we thought that we had it. But it was stolen from us.”
“It was money that we’ve had for the program for weeks and we didn’t even know they had it until they told us.”
The Knoxville law firm in Tennessee is accused of stealing millions of dollars from the New Hampshire coronavirus relief fund.
“I was told that there was an opportunity to take money as small as $2,000 and that’s how much was stolen from us, because no one had reported this
