On Youtube, the happy-go-lucky family that goes by the name B.E.A.M. Squad seems to have everything—1.3 million subscribers, a sprawling Palm Beach, Fla. home, exotic travel and a silver Bentley—but they also have a dark, criminal past: According to a 2019 plea deal with the Social Security Administration, they were indicted and arrested for multiple felonies which included stealing Social Security money and filing phony tax returns.
Losses to the SSA and the Internal Revenue Service totaled almost $94,000, court documents show.
Billy Altidor, 29, and Evanie (Eva) Louis, 27, admit that in 2014 and 2015, they stole Social Security benefits owed people old enough to be their grandparents, according to their plea deal. A third defendant is awaiting trial.
The defendants accessed, or attempted to access, My Social Security online accounts belonging to more than 1,400 people, prosecutors said.
To gain access, they used stolen data, including Social Security numbers, dates and places of birth, and mothers’ maiden names — information that fraudsters covet since it fuels a long list of crimes.
Early in 2019, the couple's wealthy, carefree façade began to crack. Altidor and Louis pleaded guilty to two felonies: conspiracy to commit theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft. Several other counts are slated to be dropped when they are sentenced in federal court in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 24, 2020.
Each faces up to seven years in prison and a half-million dollars in fines. They are cooperating with prosecutors in a bid to reduce their sentences and have agreed to repay the money traced to their crimes, court documents show.
On camera, Altidor and Louis, the parents of two children, have said they are engaged to be married and expecting a third child.
In November, the couple spoke generally about their criminal case on YouTube, giving few specifics about the misdeeds that authorities said occurred from January 2014 to March 2015.
Instead the couple asked for prayers — and asserted they had changed. "People make mistakes,” Altidor said.
They have nearly 190 million views and continue to post videos of happy outings and odd pranks, such a video posted Dec. 27, 2019 entitled: “Cheating In Front of My Son to See If He Tells His Dad.”