Elaine Angene Escoe, a 41-year-old Jamaican national, has been returned to the United States following her arrest in Jamaica on charges related to an alleged multimillion-dollar scheme involving federal COVID-19 relief funds.
According to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Escoe arrived in South Florida on Thursday after Jamaican authorities took her into custody.
She is currently facing a number of charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of money laundering. Prosecutors allege that between May 2020 and November 2021, she and five co-defendants submitted more than 90 fraudulent applications for assistance under several pandemic-era programs.
These included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). The applications reportedly contained false information about employee numbers, payroll expenses, and business revenues, according to the FBI.
Officials stated that the scheme led to the wrongful disbursement of approximately $29.1 million in PPP funds, $1.2 million in RRF funds, and $3.8 million in SVOG funds, for a total exceeding $32 million. After the funds were released, Escoe and others allegedly directed payments to one another and to businesses they controlled, withdrew substantial amounts of cash, and used blank, signed checks in an effort to conceal the origin and nature of the proceeds.
All five co-defendants have either been found guilty at trial or entered guilty pleas.
🚨CAPTURED: Most Wanted Fraudster ARRESTED After Fleeing To Jamaica
Elaine Angene Escoe is being charged with money laundering and wire fraud for her involvement in a $32 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. pic.twitter.com/c9SoOuTjrL
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 25, 2026
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Escoe on May 22, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach. She had been notified of a court appearance scheduled for June 5, 2025, but failed to appear, and was last seen in Palm Beach County on June 3, 2025.
Authorities later determined that she had traveled to Jamaica, where she lived under the assumed name “Harley Newman.” The FBI eventually received a tip that led to her location and subsequent arrest by Jamaican law enforcement.
Court records indicate that she immigrated to South Florida by way of Jamaica at age 9, graduated from Olympic Heights High School in Boca Raton with a 3.8 grade-point average, and earned degrees in psychology and finance from Lynn University. The FBI previously offered a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to her arrest and conviction and had placed her on its Most Wanted Fraudsters list.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the arrest as the fourth capture of an individual from the Most Wanted Fraudsters list in a five-week period. He noted that the FBI and its partners have returned more than 30 high-value targets to the United States since June, and that the four suspects apprehended in the recent period face collective charges involving nearly $1.8 billion in alleged fraud after spending more than 3,500 days on the run across three continents.
