Charleston County Man Indicted for Wire Fraud

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Jonathan Ramaci, 58, of Charleston, for wire fraud.

Count One of the Indictment alleges that Ramaci diverted at least $600,000 of investor funds that had been raised for his company, Elements of Genius, to another company he controlled, Mobile Life Labs, which were then used for his personal use. Counts Two and Three allege that Ramaci submitted fraudulent documents to the Small Business Administration and approved third party lenders to receive Payroll Protection and Emergency Injury Disaster Relief loans.

Ramaci faces a maximum penalty of twenty years for each count. A detention hearing is scheduled for 3:00 pm on December 15, 2022, before United States Magistrate Judge Molly H. Cherry.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in coordination with the Securities Division of the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy F. Bower is prosecuting the case. 

U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs stated that all charges in the indictment are merely accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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