A veteran NYPD detective admitted Wednesday he ran a $1 million COVID fraud scheme that helped more than 65 people illegally apply for small-business pandemic relief funds.
Detective John Bolden, 48, a 20-year NYPD veteran who retired from the force in October, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. He admitted to his role in the scheme to fleece the federal Paycheck Protection Program — which was set up to offer loans to small businesses that had to close their doors because of COVID.
He could face between four and five years behind bars based on federal guidelines when he’s sentenced in Brooklyn Federal Court on June 3.
Bolde, of Valley Stream, L.I., and former Detective Anthony Carreira, of Staten Island, owned partnership interests in a tax prep franchise. In May 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, Borden heard an audio recording from another fraudster giving other tax preparers advice on how to game the Paycheck Protection Program.
“We all want the bread, but we also want the loan forgiveness. That’s the big win,” the audio recording boasted, according to court filings. PPP loans would be forgiven if they were spent on job retention efforts and payroll costs.
That 30-minute recording inspired Bolden to try his hand at fraud, preparing fake applications for himself, Carreira, his mother, Jacqueline Johnson, 78, and his cousin, Christian McKenzie, 46, according to prosecutors.
“Between May 2020 and October 2024, I along with others, agreed to put fraudulent information on the online applications for PPP loans,” Bolden told Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon on Wednesday. “I did it knowingly and intentionally, and I’m sorry for my actions.”
Bolden and Carreira each got more than $40,000 for inventing “Security Services” and “Armed Security” businesses, while Johnson created a company called “Hair by Jacqueline,” and McKenzie concocted a sneaker business called “Chris Kicks,” according to a criminal complaint.
Johnson and McKenzie also acted as intermediaries to find more people to apply for bogus loans, according to the feds. In one case, according to court documents, Johnson for her efforts got a $4,000 cut of the action, and in another she demanded a cut from one of their clients.
Bolden, Carreira, Johnson and McKenzie were arrested in 2024, though federal prosecutors ultimately deferred prosecution on Johnson.
Carreira, 43, and McKenzie, 48, pleaded guilty in August. Both await sentencing.
“The Paycheck Protection program was created to keep small businesses afloat during an unprecedented national emergency,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said Wednesday. “John Bolden, who swore to uphold the law as a police officer, instead shamefully broke the law and exploited the COVID-19 pandemic for personal gain.”
Bolden and his lawyer declined comment as they left the courtroom.
Carreira, who retired from the NYPD in 2023, also made headlines in 2019 when he and five other cops were transferred out of Brooklyn’s 66th Precinct after the department received federal civil rights complaints accusing them of creating a “frat house” culture of persistent racist bullying in their unit.
