Former Eagles player Wendell Smallwood Jr. charged with COVID-19, tax fraud

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Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. has been charged with defrauding the federal government to receive COVID relief loans.

Smallwood, a Wilmington native, is charged with three felonies: wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS. He faces up to 50 years in prison.

Filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, prosecutors claim that Smallwood submitted fraudulent applications to receive funding from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Prosecutors allege Smallwood submitted applications on behalf of three businesses that “contained material misrepresentations” about their operations. He’s alleged to have received tens of thousands of dollars based on the fraudulent applications, which prosecutors say he deposited into his personal account.

In addition, Smallwood is accused of being part of a fraudulent scheme with other conspirators to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, resulting in $269,150 in loan proceeds being disbursed.

Prosecutors allege that Smallwood “submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications in the names of at least thirteen sole proprietor borrowers” that “falsely stated either the existence of a sole proprietorship in the 12 months prior to the pandemic or substantially inflated the sole proprietorship’s business operations during 2019 or 2020.

“In return for preparing and submitting PPP loan applications, Wendell Lynn Smallwood Jr. received kickback payments ranging from approximately $4,000 to $12,000,” court documents state.

Prosecutors also allege Smallwood prepared false tax filings to receive refunds from the IRS, resulting in the agency issuing refunds of at least $110,196.

A guilty plea hearing is currently scheduled for Dec. 20, according to court documents.

Smallwood’s attorney Mark Sheppard told Eagles Wire that the former running back “has cooperated fully with this investigation.”

“We will have more to say when we appear in December,” Sheppard said.

Smallwood played six seasons in the NFL split between the Eagles, the now-named Washington Commanders and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played high school football at Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Delaware.