Reservist facing Capitol riot charges accused of vaccine-related scam

The US government claims the man and a nurse forged Covid records

A federal attorney in New York has accused a Marine Corps reservist and a nurse at a clinic of contributing to Covid-19 deaths in America by running a scam to sell fake vaccination cards. The co-conspirators offered the alleged criminal service to Marines who did not want to comply with the vaccine mandate, an indictment unsealed on Thursday claims. One of the defendants was charged earlier in the Capitol Hill riot investigation.

“By deliberately distributing fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination cards to the unvaccinated, the defendants put military and other communities at risk of contracting a virus that has already claimed nearly one million lives in this country,” US Attorney Breon Peace said, as he and FBI special agent Michael Driscoll unveiled the indictment.

This Office remains committed to rooting out and prosecuting those individuals who threaten our public health and safety for profit.

The federal government has accused Cpl. Jia Liu, 26 and Steven Rodriguez, 27, of distributing over 300 fraudulent cards and making over 70 false entries into New York state vaccination databases, as well as destroying multiple doses of vaccines as part of their conspiracy.

Rodriguez allegedly stole blank cards, which Liu sold to fellow Marine Corps reservists to help them evade the government’s vaccination mandate for the military. As a premium service, Rodriguez would invite clients to a clinic in Hempstead, New York, where he worked as a nurse, the indictment said. Instead of injecting them with a vaccine, he would destroy the dose, falsify a vaccination card, and make a false database entry, listing the client as vaccinated, the government claimed.

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The fraudulent cards were marketed as “gift cards,” “Cardi Bs,” “Christmas cards” and “Pokemon cards” on social media and through messaging apps, court papers said. The alleged scheme ran from approximately March 2021, the indictment said, bringing the co-conspirators thousands of dollars in criminal profit. They urged buyers to disguise payments as “consultancy” fees or “Korean BBQ,” the document said.

Later on Thursday, the court for the Eastern District of New York released Liu on $250,000 bond to home detention, on condition he wears an ankle tracker, the Associated Press reported. Rodriguez was released on $100,000 bond.

Liu was previously charged with entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct as part of the investigation of the January 6 riot, the agency noted. Cameras filmed him climbing through a broken window into the Capitol building on that day, according to a criminal complaint. He pleaded not guilty in that case.

The US introduced vaccination mandates for the military in August last year, threatening to relieve of duty anyone who did not comply. As of late December, the Marine Corps reported removing 206 troops from its ranks over their vaccination status.