A man from Washington has entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to officials. Marco Raquan Honesty, 28, admitted his involvement in multiple fraudulent activities that caused losses exceeding $600,000.

Court documents reveal that between January 2021 and April 2022, Honesty participated in several fraud schemes with accomplices. These included defrauding COVID relief programs, executing "smishing" scams, forging money orders, creating fake IDs and vehicle titles, taking over bank accounts, and selling stolen financial information online.

From April through October 2021, Honesty was involved in defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program provided loans intended for businesses to cover specific expenses like payroll. Honesty submitted false PPP loan applications for non-existent sole proprietorships. He received kickback payments or fees from some of these loans, amounting to $10,000 per fraudulent loan at times.

The scheme involved submitting at least 16 first draw and nine second draw PPP loan applications funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA). False tax returns were created to support these applications. A total of 15 individuals were implicated in this fraudulent activity which resulted in a loss of $509,069 to the SBA. Beneficiaries of the loans included Honesty himself as well as his family members and friends.

Honesty also engaged in a "smishing" scheme where he used fake bank websites to acquire victims' usernames and passwords by sending them deceptive text messages.

Additionally, he was involved in manipulating Western Union money orders between December 2021 and January 2022. He altered these money orders using computers and printers before depositing them into ATMs at various banks. This particular scam amounted to $79,700 worth of fraudulent deposits.

Furthermore, Honesty ran a Telegram channel called “Heavenly Logs,” where he sold stolen credit cards and other contraband. He also orchestrated an account takeover scheme using payment platforms like Zelle.

On September 7th, law enforcement searched his residence seizing multiple electronic devices along with various tools related to identity theft and fraud.

The total known attempted loss from all these schemes is calculated at $850,204.64 with actual losses standing at $621,958.50.

Honesty is due for sentencing on May 23rd facing up to 20 years imprisonment for wire fraud alongside a mandatory two-year term for aggravated identity theft. Federal sentences are generally less than maximum penalties as determined by judges considering U.S Sentencing Guidelines among other factors.

Jessica D. Aber from the Eastern District of Virginia's U.S Attorney's Office together with Sean Ryan from FBI’s Washington Field Office made this announcement following Senior U.S District Judge Claude M Hilton’s acceptance of the plea deal.

Prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S Attorneys Katherine E Rumbaugh and Kathleen Robeson.