Wendell Smallwood Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges

Former Mountaineer Wendell Smallwood pleads guilty to charges he defrauded federal COVID-19 relief programs, according to the Washington Times and other outlets.

Smallwood Jr., who played at WVU from 2013-15 and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles, was charged with three felonies — wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. He faces up to 50 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors allege Smallwood defrauded government agencies by submitting false information in an effort to receive a significant amount of money in payments to businesses he ran.

Smallwood is also being accused with defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and lying to tax authorities.

According to the court documents obtained by CBS Philadelphia, Smallwood applied for COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) using “defunct or recently registered businesses and claimed false business operations” in applications to the Small Business Administration.

The report says he submitted false information to the Paycheck Protection Program as well.

In three seasons at West Virginia, Smallwood played in 38 games and rushed for 2,462 yards and 12 touchdowns on 425 carries. He had a breakout season as a junior in 2015, when he rushed for 1,519 yards and averaged 6.4 yards per carry.

After college, Smallwood spent three seasons in Philadelphia after being drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He played in 37 games for Philadelphia, making nine starts and rushed for a combined 840 yards on 211 carries and scored eight total touchdowns. Smallwood also spent time with the then Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars.