{"id":3203,"date":"2024-11-22T01:58:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T01:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=3203"},"modified":"2024-11-22T01:58:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T01:58:31","slug":"3203","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=3203","title":{"rendered":"Former Philadelphia Eagles RB &#038; Super Bowl Champion Faces Lifetime In Prison After Being Charged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.totalprosports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-1615595801-1-1024x563.jpg\" alt=\"Philadelphia Eagles helmet on ground\" width=\"1024\" height=\"563\" \/><em>Philadelphia Eagles helmet (Photo by Rob Carr\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Wendell Smallwood Jr., who once played for the\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles, is facing a lifetime in prison over his past actions.<\/p>\n<p>The former Eagles running back allegedly committed fraud to obtain tens of thousands of dollars from two COVID-19 relief programs and then proceeded to run a kickback scheme with several others to falsify loan applications and tax documents during the pandemic, according to federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Smallwood was charged with three felonies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wire fraud.<\/li>\n<li>Conspiracy to commit wire fraud.<\/li>\n<li>Conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Because of his actions, the former Philadelphia Eagles star is now facing 50 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>He is currently 30-years-old, so a lengthy prison sentence of 50 years might ensure he dies behind bars for his actions.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents\u00a0obtained by\u00a0CBS, \u201cSmallwood applied for COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) using \u201cdefunct or recently registered businesses and claimed false business operations\u201d in applications to the Small Business Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The documents state Smallwood submitted false information to the Paycheck Protection Program and was involved in a tax fraud conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"ql-video\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=reddawg77089&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1859676724658831718&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.totalprosports.com%2Fnfl%2Fformer-philadelphia-eagles-rb-super-bowl-champion-faces-lifetime-in-prison-after-being-charged%2F&amp;sessionId=17b2e22634fd866b169bb556d22f3e4b8bbd6f9c&amp;siteScreenName=totalprosports&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said the Wilmington, Delaware, native received $46,000 in fraudulent loans that were withdrawn for personal use instead of being invested in his businesses.<\/p>\n<p>No one could\u2019ve foresaw his life would\u2019ve taken him here after he experienced the highest of highs just as a few years ago on the football field.<\/p>\n<h2>Former Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Champion Wendell Smallwood Didn\u2019t Have A Notable Career But Made His Impact<\/h2>\n<p>Wendell Smallwood had the biggest moment of his career when he won Super Bowl 52 with the Philadelphia Eagles when they defeated the\u00a0New England Patriots, 41-33.<\/p>\n<p>Those days are long gone, as the former\u00a0NFL\u00a0running back has been charged with defrauding federal COVID-19 relief programs.<\/p>\n<p>Smallwood also played with Washington and the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>He ended his\u00a0career with\u00a0238 carries, 956 rushing yards, and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Philadelphia Eagles helmet (Photo by Rob Carr\/Getty Images) Wendell Smallwood Jr., who once played for the\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles, is facing a lifetime in prison over his past actions&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Philadelphia Eagles RB &amp; Super Bowl Champion Faces Lifetime In Prison After Being Charged - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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