Grand jury indicts Buffalo man on multiple COVID related fraud charges

Date: April 10, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Buffalo, NY - U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a 10-count indictment charging Brandon Millender of Buffalo, NY with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and concealment money laundering, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a fine up to $500,000.

According to the indictment, between April 2021, and August 2025, Millender conspired with others to defraud financial institutions, financial service companies, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) by submitting fraudulent Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan applications and PPP loan forgiveness applications. The applications contained information regarding non-existent businesses, including payroll expenses and revenue. Millender carried out the scheme by:

• creating, using, and maintaining numerous e-mail addresses using the names, or variations of the names, of other individuals without knowledge or permission. In addition to names, he used social security numbers, addresses, and other personal information of these individuals.
• creating bank accounts, credit card accounts, on-line profiles, and CashApp/Block accounts, which he then used to receive proceeds of the scheme, conceal proceeds of the scheme, and spend proceeds of the scheme.

Affected financial institutions included Key Bank, Harvest Small Business Finance, LLC, Benworth Capital Partners, CashApp/Block, and Small Business Administration.

In addition, between June and August 2025, Millender sought to obstruct the federal investigation of the conspiracy by attempting to influence an individual to provide false and misleading information to federal investigators.

Between April 21 and May 11, 2021, Millender conducted financial transactions involving property, which included the proceeds of some of the unlawful activity. Millender did so knowing that the transactions were designed to conceal and disguise the nature, ownership, and the control of the proceeds.

In total, the scheme involved over $140,000 in PPP loan proceeds.

The Department of Justice has created the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

Millender was arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer and released on conditions.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan K. Glaberson. The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Harry Chavis and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Philip Tejera.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.