A former Marine Corps reservist was sentenced on Friday to 21 months in federal jail for promoting bogus COVID-19 vaccination playing cards to unvaccinated folks.
Prosecutors stated Jia Liu, 28, partnered with fellow admitted scammer Steven Rodriguez to steal, forge and distribute fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination playing cards to folks seeking to get round stringent vaccination necessities at work, eating places and different locations throughout probably the most chaotic months of the coronavirus pandemic.
The playing cards have been distributed to greater than 300 consumers.
Along with the pretend playing cards, Liu and Rodriguez, 29, additionally supplied consumers and co-conspirators false entry into authorities immunization databases, officers stated.
Final yr, Rodriguez, a Lengthy Island nurse, was sentenced to 30 months in jail.
“On the top of the COVID pandemic, Liu and Rodriguez overtly fabricated vaccine playing cards and bought them for revenue, thereby placing the protection of others in danger throughout this lethal well being disaster,” Breon Peace, U.S. Lawyer for the Jap District in Brooklyn, stated in an announcement.
“This prosecution demonstrates our workplace’s ongoing dedication to holding accountable those that engaged in COVID-19 fraud. These jail sentences ought to deter different lawbreakers who put their very own pursuits above public well being.”
Peace stated the pair went to nice lengths to hide the operation.
Co-conspirators used code phrases reminiscent of “reward playing cards,” “Pokemon playing cards” or “Cardi Bs” to seek advice from the pretend vaccine playing cards.
Liu additionally instructed his companions to speak by encrypted functions and conceal fee information, officers stated.
The pair additionally disguised the supply of mail gadgets containing the playing cards, or used false names on envelopes.
Prosecutors stated Liu and his associate have been extra involved with revenue and pushing their anti-vaccine agenda than they have been with the a whole lot of 1000’s of people that perished because the illness ravaged a lot of America.
Liu even messaged a co-conspirator “f–k the vaccine” when folks have been clamoring to get the shot.
Officers stated Liu particularly focused folks within the navy, serving to fellow Marine Corps reservists evade the navy’s vaccination necessities, even bragging about his exploits in an encrypted messaging app.
“You haven’t any thought what number of paperwork I’ve faked in my USMC profession,” he wrote, officers stated.
Liu was additionally charged with climbing via a damaged window into the Capitol in the course of the Jan. 6, 2021 rebellion that delayed Congress’ certification of President Biden’s electoral victory. Safety cameras recorded Liu getting into the constructing, based on a felony criticism.
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