MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon for his role in a pandemic fraud case that attempted to defraud federal, state, local, and private COVID-19 relief programs out of a total of $6 million.
Tezzaree El-Amin Champion agreed to a plea agreement Wednesday morning in federal court, admitting his role in two separate schemes.
Champion’s company Futuristic Management Group scammed the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, as well as Hennepin County’s Small Business Relief grant program by dramatically overstating applicant income and expenses and submitting fake tax records and lease documents, according to his plea agreement. Prosecutors determined that part of the scheme caused more than $2.1 million in losses…