A Braselton couple has been indicted by a federal grad jury and is accused of scheming to defraud the US Small Business Administration.

Paul Kwak, 63, and Michelle Kwak, 60, were indicted May 18, 2021. The couple is accused of filing fraudulent applications in the Economic Impact Disaster Loan Program in the names of shell companies that had no employees and conducted no business activities. Congress created EIDL as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to help businesses weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a news release by the US Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the Kwaks are suspected of being connected to more than 70 fraudulent EIDL applications, of which about half were successful, resulting in more than $4 million in fraudulent loans.

Paul Kwak even took to YouTube, posting a video in May 2020 titled ““EIDL, disaster assistance you don’t have to pay back” in Korean.

“Fraudulent applications divert the limited pool of funds Congress allocated for pandemic relief from legitimate businesses in need of assistance,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine said. “By defrauding the Small Business Administration, the defendants harmed hardworking business owners whom the CARES Act was intended to help.”