Ex-Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. accused of defrauding COVID relief programs and IRS

Former Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. is facing federal charges over allegedly defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and the Internal Revenue Service in a series of schemes that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in falsely obtained payments.

Federal prosecutors in Delaware charged Smallwood late last month with felony counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the IRS.

Smallwood, prosecutors allege, received more than $46,000 in fraudulent loan proceeds from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which was designed to provide low-interest financing to small businesses amid the pandemic. Between May 2020 and June 2021, Smallwood applied several times to that program using what prosecutors called “defunct or recently registered businesses,” and provided false information about their operations.

As a result, the Small Business Administration, which ran the program, approved loans of $15,500 and $30,900 for Smallwood-owned businesses.

The loans were allegedly not used for business expenses, and Smallwood instead used them to fund checks, and transferred them to personal checking accounts, court documents indicate.

Prosecutors similarly accused Smallwood of conspiring with another person, who was not named in court documents, to fraudulently apply to the Paycheck Protection Program using the names of 13 different people between March and May 2021. Known as the PPP, that program helped small businesses through forgivable loans that were to be used to pay for business expenses including payroll and utilities.

Smallwood and his unnamed conspirator, prosecutors allege, submitted fraudulent applications that resulted in more than $269,000 in payouts, court documents indicate. Prosecutors claimed that Smallwood received kickback payments of $4,000 to $12,000 from the people named in the applications.

Prosecutors also alleged that Smallwood “recruited individual tax filers” for the tax years 2021 and 2022 as part of a conspiracy that resulted in fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS totaling more than $110,000, according to court documents. As part of that scheme, prosecutors claim, Smallwood allegedly prepared at least 10 tax forms on behalf of others, providing false information about their income and employers.

Smallwood has not yet entered a plea, though court documents indicate that he has informed the court that he intends to plead guilty at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 20. An attorney representing Smallwood declined to comment.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines, according to court documents.

A Delaware native, Smallwood joined the Eagles as a fifth-round pick in 2016, spending three seasons with the team before departing for the team now known as the Washington Commanders following the Birds’ 2018 season. While he was on the Eagles roster for Super Bowl LII, in which the Birds beat the New England Patriots 41-33 for their first Big Game win, he did not play in the matchup.