Boston, Aug 23 (AP) Federal authorities announced Monday that men from Massachusetts and New Hampshire have been charged in connection with their alleged roles in a scheme that sued stolen identities to fraudulently obtain more than USD 450,000 in disaster loans from the Small Business Administration.

About USD 250,000 of that money was used to purchase iPhones that were then resold, according to a statement from the US attorney's office in Boston.

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Edwin Acevedo, 35, of Acton, Massachusetts, and Hector Garcia, 49, of Manchester, New Hampshire were arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Garcia was also charged with aggravated identity theft.

Acevedo is being held pending a detention hearing. Garcia is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on September 3.

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An email seeking comment was left with Acevedo's attorney. Court records did not list a lawyer for Garcia.

Garcia used the stolen identity of a US citizen to open a fraudulent bank account, which was linked to other fraudulent bank accounts set up to receive the loans, prosecutors alleged.

Acevedo then distributed debit cards associated with those accounts to other alleged accomplices, which were used to launder the loans through the purchase iPhones for resale, prosecutors said.

Garcia also wired a portion of the funds to the Dominican Republic, according to authorities.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)