A woman who helped three Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies to commit federal fraud was awaiting sentencing after recently pleading guilty to conspiracy to make false statements charges in Fort Lauderdale.

Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy and SWAT team member Alexandra Acosta was sentenced Tuesday in federal court for fraudulently applying for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five of 17 Broward Sheriff’s Office employees suspected of fraudulently applying for and receiving Paycheck Protection Program loans appeared in court Thursday to be arraigned on federal charges.

Multiple sources have now confirmed that at least 40 Broward Sheriff’s Office employees are now part of a federal investigation.

A former South Florida police officer pleaded guilty Monday to stealing about $285,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.

A House investigations panel says financial technology firms “abdicated” their responsibility to screen out fraud in applications for a federal program designed to help small businesses stay open and keep workers employed during the pandemic.

Daniel Joseph Tisone, 35, of Naples, pleaded guilty Monday in Fort Myers federal court to wire fraud, bank fraud, illegal monetary transaction and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, court documents show. He faces up to 60 years in federal prison at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 5.

The actor who played the Red Power Ranger in the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” films and television series has been charged with wire fraud conspiracy relating to the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program.

James Stote, 55, of Hollywood, Florida, and Phillip Augustin, 52, of Coral Springs, Florida, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Akron, Ohio, federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to court records. They each face up to 20 years in prison.

The government's key COVID-19 relief program for small businesses has run out of money.

President Joe Biden has made a Cinco de Mayo taco and enchilada run to highlight his administration’s $28.6 billion program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

WASHINGTON – The Senate passed a bill 92-7 on Thursday to extend the deadline for business owners to apply for forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, giving applicants two more months to apply for federal aid. The bill had already passed the House, so it now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Congress started the loan program last year to help businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Business groups lobbied lawmakers to keep the program going to help ensure businesses that still need help can get it. The Small Business Administration reports that it has approved nearly 7.9 million loans totaling about $704 billion.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON – The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved President Joe Biden's pick to oversee the Small Business Administration, an agency that has seen its portfolio expand in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Guzman is a former Obama administration SBA official who currently heads California’s Office of the Small Business Advocate. In that role, she oversaw efforts to help that state’s small businesses survive the pandemic. The Small Business Administration oversees loan programs to help businesses recover from natural disasters, enhances access to capital through loan guarantees and provides training and technical assistance. Guzman said she would work to ensure money gets into the hands of the small businesses hurt the most by the pandemic and the economic crisis through no fault of their own.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden visited a hardware store in the nation’s capital Tuesday to highlight changes he made to the Paycheck Protection Program to benefit small businesses he says were overlooked by the Trump administration earlier in the coronavirus pandemic. Biden administration officials announced last month that for two weeks starting on Feb. 24, the Small Business Administration would only accept applications for the forgivable loan program from firms with fewer than 20 employees. The exclusivity period for small businesses ends Tuesday, with White House officials reporting that the effort led to a 20% increase in minority businesses and a 14% increase in women businesses receiving loans. The Biden administration also changed eligibility rules for the program. AdTrump administration officials argued the program primarily benefitted smaller businesses because a vast majority of the loans in the first months of the program were for less than $150,000.

The Obama administration closed the nuclear deal without making the freeing of American citizens in Iran a prerequisite. The Trump administration then failed to push for the release of the Namazi father and son as hard as it did other Americans held by Iran, Babak Namazi said. Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, called Iran’s continued detention of American citizens a “humanitarian catastrophe” on a news show this Sunday. “My family expects that President Biden and his administration will not make concessions or deals with Iran” absent a requirement that Iran free the father and son, Babak Namazi told reporters. The 84-year-old found that Iran's Revolutionary Guard had unexpectedly placed a new block on his travel out of Iran, however, Babak Namazi said.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced changes Monday to target more federal pandemic assistance to the nation’s smallest businesses and ventures owned by women and people of color. Biden says a lot of these mom and pop businesses “got muscled out of the way” by larger businesses seeking federal money in the early days of the pandemic. "America’s small businesses are hurting, hurting badly and they need help now,” Biden said. Under the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program, the administration is establishing a two-week window, starting Wednesday, in which only businesses with fewer than 20 employees — the overwhelming majority of small businesses — can apply for the forgivable loans. The Biden effort is aimed at correcting disparities in how the program was administered by the Trump administration.

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A Bradenton man is accused of using $7.2 million from Paycheck Protection Program funds to buy a Central Florida mansion and three luxury cars, according to court records. Records show Cisternino applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan established as part of the federal CARES Act relief bill. Prosecutors said Cisternino is accused of using the money to buy a Maserati, a $89,000 Lincoln Navigator, a $251,000 Mercedes-Benz and a $3.1 million home in Chuluota. AdCisternino is accused of saying MagnifiCo had 441 employees with an average monthly payroll of $2.88 million. Records show after the application the Small Business Administration issued $7.2 million in PPP funds to MagnifiCo.

Vaccines, testing, health providers ($69 billion). Adds $22 billion for testing, tracing and mitigation, $9 billion for health care providers, and $4.5 billion for mental health. Reauthorizes, for three years, funding for community health centers and extends a variety of expiring health care policies, including reimbursement rates for various health care providers and procedures under Medicare and MedicaidTax extenders. Business meals would be 100% deductible through 2022 and out-of-pocket health care costs would be deductible after they reach 7.5% of income. Folds in pipeline safety legislation reauthorizing operating grants and safety standards for oil and gas pipelines.

Vaccines, testing, health providers ($69 billion). Adds $22 billion for testing, tracing and mitigation, $9 billion for health care providers, and $4.5 billion for mental health. Reauthorizes, for three years, funding for community health centers and extends a variety of expiring health care policies, including reimbursement rates for various health care providers and procedures under Medicare and MedicaidTax extenders. Business meals would be 100% deductible through 2022 and out-of-pocket health care costs would be deductible after they reach 7.5% of income. Folds in pipeline safety legislation reauthorizing operating grants and safety standards for oil and gas pipelines.

Adds $22 billion for testing, tracing and mitigation, $9 billion for health care providers, and $4.5 billion for mental health. Forgives a $10 billion loan to the Postal Service provided in earlier relief legislation. Reauthorizes, for three years, funding for community health centers and extends a variety of expiring health care policies. Boosts “clean energy” programs like research and development, efficiency incentives and tax credits. Folds in pipeline safety legislation reauthorizing operating grants and safety standards for oil and gas pipelines.

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2020 file photo, a man walks past the boarded-up first floor windows of a Huntington Bank branch in Columbus, Ohio. Huntington, with $120 billion in assets, outsizes TCF, which has assets of around $50 billion. The TCF brand will be changed to Huntington, and Detroit's TCF Center will be renamed after Huntington in the coming years. “We wanted to remain Detroit's hometown bank,” said TCF Financial CEO Gary Torgow, in an interview. “We are going to be much better together,” said Huntington Bank CEO Steve Steinour, noting that Huntington, along with new markets, would also get access to TCF's equipment finance business and inventory finance businesses.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A state championship-winning high school basketball coach in South Florida was arrested and charged with fraudulently obtaining nearly $1 million intended for people struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, federal officials say. Terrence Williams, 40 of Tamarac, led Stranahan High in Fort Lauderdale to boys basketball state titles the past two years. The criminal complaint alleges Williams applied for the loan on behalf of Williams Consulting Group LLC, a company he owned. He also previously earned a supplement to serve as a basketball coach at William Dandy Middle School, district officials said. Williams was named a 2020 Coach of the Year by the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches.

First up is the Carlos Gimenez ad against Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. THE RACE: Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez is the Republican running for the House of Representatives against Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democrat who currently holds the Miami District 26 seat. THE CLAIM: “Debbie Mucarsel-Powell pushed taxpayer-funded loans meant for small business. The PPP program stumbled when it went live in April. (Up next: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell ad against Carlos Gimenez)

MIRAMAR, Fla. – A rapper from the group Pretty Ricky faces federal charges after investigators say he fraudulently obtained a coronavirus relief loan and then used the money to buy a $96,000 Ferrari and other luxury items. Diamond Blue Smith, 36, of Miramar, was charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The feds say Smith used falsified documents to secure a $426,717 loan under the Paycheck Protection Program for his company Throwbackjersey.com LLC. Last month, the 31-year-old Bellamy was charged in South Florida federal court with wire and bank fraud in addition to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. He faces the same charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

(Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that the U.S. economy is rebounding from the pandemic-induced recession with federal support but that more help from the government is likely needed. “We are in a very different situation than we were the last time,” when Congress enacted nearly $3 trillion in emergency financial aid, Mnuchin said. “At that time, the entire economy was shut down.”Mnuchin said that further federal aid should be focused on the most damaged sectors of the economy, such as restaurants and the travel industry. Pressed to say what types of aid the Trump administration would support in a new bill, Mnuchin said the administration would favor sending another round of $1,200 in individual payments. Mnuchin said the Treasury and the SBA had worked to make the forms simpler to fill out.

NEW YORK – Small businesses hoping for more leeway in using coronavirus loan money were disappointed as the government released instructions for seeking forgiveness for the loans. According to the instructions, loans can still be forgiven in full only if the money is spent within eight weeks of receiving it. Many small businesses say the eight-week period is too restrictive; loan forgiveness applies only for money spent through June 30. Loan forgiveness was a key factor in many owners seeking the loans. While technically they can do that, they could not get forgiveness on the money spent for unapproved items.

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)NEW YORK – The Trump administration has dispensed about $530 billion to millions of small businesses to cushion them from the sharp downturn induced by the coronavirus. A challenge for many small businesses is deciding how to use the money. Moreover, many small businesses use freelancers rather than employees, especially companies that require workers with different expertise. A loan from the program can help a business — and its employees — through an immediate cash crunch. “It’s a bridge to keep businesses going and then all businesses will need to review their business model,” Asgeirsson says of the program.

President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and said most of the funding in the bill would flow to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. Known as PPP, the program is meant to loan money to small businesses to keep workers on their payroll. “Great for small businesses, great for the workers,” Trump said. Small Business? RELATED: Miami Commission approves funding for small business

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy. Trump said most of the funding in the bill would flow to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides money to small businesses to keep workers on their payroll. “Great for small businesses, great for the workers,” Trump said. There’s also $60 billion for small-business loans and grants delivered through the Small Business Administration’s existing disaster aid program. That left thousands of small businesses in limbo as they sought help.

Many small business owners ran into bureaucratic or technological road blocks. A major trade group for small businesses complained that too many of its members were “shut out” from getting loans. Bank of America alone said 75,000 small businesses had applied for $7 billion of loans. Bank of America, for example, said the loans were available to customers who had business deposit accounts and business loans with the bank. “Small business owners have had their applications filled out.