A former Miami Police officer has been arrested on money laundering and COVID-19 relief fraud charges, officials said.
Former Officer Djimy Joseph, 47, was arrested on charges of organized scheme to defraud over $50,000, money laundering over $100,000, and false official statements, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said Monday.
Prosecutors said a routine licensing inspection by the Florida Department of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco revealed Joseph was the owner of a bar and grill, violating a state statute that prohibits officers from owning or operating a business that serves alcohol.
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A public corruption investigation was launched and detectives learned Joseph owned other businesses and had fraudulently applied for and received over $246,000 in COVID Relief loans through the Paycheck Protection Program and other government programs provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, prosecutors said.
Joseph submitted false statements and misrepresented the number of employees and monthly payroll amounts, business revenues, and expenses to receive a larger loan, authorities said.
Djimy was booked into the Miami-Dade jail Monday, where he was being held on a $25,000 bond, records showed.
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The organized scheme to defraud and money laundering charges are first-degree felonies, while the false official statements is a second-degree misdemeanor.
"Public Corruption in any form cannot and must not be tolerated at any level of public service," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Mr. Joseph’s actions show a deliberate and intentional pattern of behavior that was meant for his personal financial gain at the expense of breaking the law he had sworn to uphold as an officer and betraying the trust the public placed in him."
