The actor who led a workforce of teenage superheroes on “Mighty Morphin Energy Rangers” has been accused of serving to steal hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from the federal government’s Paycheck Safety Program pandemic reduction fund.
Jason Lawrence Geiger, 47, who performed the Pink Ranger beneath the stage title Austin St. John, and 17 others have been charged with fraud this week in a Texas federal court docket over what prosecutors described as a conspiracy to illicitly get hold of $3.5 million in P.P.P. loans.
Mr. Geiger and the others he’s stated to have labored in coordination with used a mixture of real and sham companies to acquire loans from the reduction program, prosecutors stated. In accordance with court filings, they fabricated paperwork and made false claims about gross sales and payroll to acquire inflated loans, then spent the money on jewellery, valuable metals and vehicles.
Mr. Geiger obtained a mortgage of $225,754 in June 2020 for his firm St. John Enterprises, which sells Energy Rangers memorabilia, resembling $60 autographed images and $100 personalised video messages. As a substitute of utilizing the cash to pay employees — the reduction program’s supposed function — Mr. Geiger funneled many of the cash to 2 of his co-defendants, prosecutors stated in court docket filings.
Mr. Geiger was arraigned Wednesday on a single cost, conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The cost carries a penalty of as much as 20 years in jail.
“Mr. Geiger intends to vigorously defend himself in opposition to this allegation,” David Klaudt, Mr. Geiger’s lawyer, stated in a written assertion.
A statement posted on Friday on Mr. Geiger’s Fb web page by Zachery McGinnis of Galactic Productions, an occasion reserving service for actors, forged Mr. Geiger as a sufferer of his enterprise companions.
“The indictment detailed right this moment is populated by a mess of people — nearly all of which Austin has no data of, and has by no means met or interacted with,” Mr. McGinnis wrote. “It’s our understanding that Austin put his religion, fame, and funds within the fingers of third events whose targets have been self-centered and in the end manipulated and betrayed his belief.”
Mr. Geiger fought intergalactic evil on the unique “Energy Rangers” collection that debuted in 1993 and performed the Gold Ranger on a later iteration, “Energy Rangers Zeo.” He spent 16 years as a paramedic earlier than retiring in 2014, in line with a biography posted on St. John Enterprises’ web site.
The hurriedly created Paycheck Safety Program intentionally did away with lots of the checks and safeguards that usually accompany enterprise loans — creating a possibility for some unusually brazen thievery. The Justice Division has charged lots of of individuals with fraudulently taking billions of {dollars} from it and different pandemic reduction packages.
