Elaine Angene Escoe, 41 years old, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, was captured in Jamaica and returned to the United States this Saturday to face federal charges for her alleged involvement in a fraud scheme exceeding 32 million dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Escoe had been placed on the FBI's "Most Wanted Fraudulent Persons" list on June 8, 2026, and was located less than two months later living under the false identity of "Harley Newman."
The formal charges against her date back to 2025, when she was indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money, and multiple substantive counts of both offenses.
A federal arrest warrant was issued on May 22, 2025, but Escoe did not appear for her hearing on June 5 of that year and fled to Jamaica, where she was last seen on June 3 in Palm Beach County.
According to court records, Escoe and his co-conspirators submitted over 90 fraudulent applications between May 2020 and November 2021 to programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG), and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).
The applications included false information about the number of employees, payroll expenses, and business income, supported by falsified tax documents and fabricated bank records.
The breakdown of the fraud amounts to approximately 29.1 million dollars in PPP funds, 1.2 million in RRF, and 3.8 million in SVOG. In some cases, the co-conspirators charged fees of up to 50% of the funds obtained on behalf of third parties.
His capture was the result of a coordinated operation between the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and the Jamaica Fugitive Apprehension Team, after receiving a tip about his whereabouts.
The FBI Director, Kash Patel, emphasized this Saturday that Escoe is the fourth fugitive captured in five weeks under the "Most Wanted Fraudsters" program.
"In just five weeks, we have apprehended four individuals with combined charges of nearly 1.8 billion dollars in fraud, who had each been on the run for more than 3,500 days, hiding abroad," Patel stated.
Escoe is the only defendant in the case who has not yet been tried. Her five co-defendants have already been convicted: Alfred Davis received the most severe sentence, with 235 months in prison, after being found guilty in trial in December 2025 along with Cher Davis and Latoya Clark. James McGhow and Gino Jourdan previously pleaded guilty and received sentences of 42 and 46 months, respectively.
The case is being investigated by the FBI's West Palm Beach Resident Agency, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.
The federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, Jason A. Reding Quiñones, was emphatic regarding the arrest: "The accused cannot escape responsibility simply by leaving the country. Thanks to the determined work of our federal, state, and international partners, she is back in South Florida and will now face the charges against her."
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