Federal district · prosecutions
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
32 pandemic-relief fraud prosecution records for the District of New Jersey, naming 32 defendants. By program: 22 PPP, 6 EIDL, 1 unemployment insurance, 3 other or unclassified. 9 have a case page in the archive. An amount is stated for 31 of them, from $123,489 to $151,000,000. Source dates run from 2021-12-09 to 2026-04-20.
Cases
32 defendants · 10 with a case page · sorted by amount, largest first
| Defendant | Case page | Program | Charge | Amount | Disposition | Sentence | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leon Haynes | United States v. Leon Haynes — U.S. District Court, D.N.J. | ERC/tax credits | $151,000,000 claimed refunds alleged in superseding indictment | jury verdict | 144 months | ||
| John Jhong | Sussex County Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for $2 Million COVID-19 Fraud | PPP | bank fraud, money laundering, and misuse of a Social Security number | $15,000,000 total federal pandemic aid sought in fraudulent loan applications | guilty plea | 36 months | 2023-11-16 |
| Guaravjit “Raj” Singh | Somerset County Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Orchestrating COVID-19 Fraud | PPE | wire fraud | $7,100,000 intended loss | plea | 46 months | 2022-07-20 |
| Gregory J. Blotnick | United States v. Gregory J. Blotnick — D.N.J., Newark, No. 2:21-cr-00796-BRM | PPP | wire fraud, money laundering | $6,800,000 amount sought | plea | 51 months | 2022-06-07 |
| Azhar Sarwar Rana | Sussex County Man Sentenced to 64 Months for Fraudulently Obtaining $5.6 Million Loan — USAO New Jersey | PPP | bank fraud, money laundering | $5,600,000 obtained | sentenced | 64 months | 2021-12-14 |
| Tommy Hawkins | United States v. Tommy Hawkins — U.S. District Court, D.N.J. | PPP | conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering | $5,000,000 obtained | plea | 65 months | 2024-10-21 |
| Darryl Duanne Young | Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 78 Months in Prison for $4.8 Million CARES Act Loan Fraud Scheme | PPP/EIDL | one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of money laundering | $4,800,000 sought (release: scheme to fraudulently obtain over $4.8 million in PPP and other loans) | sentenced | 78 months | 2024-09-26 |
| Kevin Aguilar | 2025 04 29 Former Monmouth County Resident Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison For Role A2ed5787 | PPP/EIDL | conspiracy to commit bank fraud; bank fraud; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; wire fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering; money laundering; aggravated identity theft | $3,772,567 amount_received | plea | 192 months | 2025-04-29 |
| Daniel Dadoun | United States v. Daniel Dadoun — D.N.J., Trenton, No. 3:25-cr-00215-RK | PPP | bank fraud and money laundering | $3,239,773 PPP loans obtained | guilty plea | 41 months | 2025-09-17 |
| Rhonda Thomas | Camden County Woman Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Fraudulently Obtaining 30 Loans | PPP, EIDL | Conspiracy to commit bank fraud (18 U.S.C. 1349); Money laundering (18 U.S.C. 1957(a)) | $3,180,000 obtained | plea | 60 months | 2023-05-02 |
| Mohamed A. Awad | Florida Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Fraudulently Obtaining $2.4 Million in CARES Act Loans | PPP/EIDL | wire fraud, money laundering | $2,410,000 CARES Act loans obtained | sentenced | 36 months | 2024-07-25 |
| Arlen G. Encarnacion | United States v. Arlen G. Encarnacion — D.N.J., Trenton, No. 3:23-cr-00794-GC | PPP/EIDL | conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering | $2,180,000 obtained | plea | 33 months | 2024-02-21 |
| Mohamed Kamara | Maryland Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Fraudulently Obtaining More Than $2 Million in COVID-19 Relief Funds | EIDL, UI | wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud | $2,000,000 fraudulent EIDL applications and unemployment insurance benefits | guilty plea | 41 months | 2023-12-14 |
| Rocco A. Malanga | 2023 03 22 Former Warren County Businessman Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For 3d3cb0af | PPP | bank fraud, money laundering | $1,800,000 PPP loans obtained | guilty plea | 36 months | 2023-03-22 |
| Stephen Bennett | Camden County Resident Sentenced to 41 Months for Defrauding COVID-19 Relief Programs and Illegally Possessing Firearm | PPP/EIDL/UI | defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and illegally possessing firearm | $1,730,000 defrauding COVID-19 relief programs | sentenced | 41 months | 2022-11-22 |
| Jordan C. Larkins | A Somerset County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining $1.6 Million | PPP, EIDL | wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering | $1,640,000 actual loss | plea | 46 months | 2022-11-30 |
| Michael Blanc | Florida Man Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Fraudulently Obtaining more than $1.5 Million in Unemployment Benefits and EIDL Loans | EIDL, UI | wire fraud | $1,500,000 unemployment benefits and EIDL loans | sentenced | 42 months | 2024-03-27 |
| Jeremy Earley | Atlantic County Resident Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Laundering Proceeds of COVID-19 Relief Program Fraud | PPP | one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property | $1,300,000 loan amount | plea | 30 months | 2024-04-30 |
| Anthony Mastroianni Jr. | PPP | Wire Fraud (2 counts) | $1,300,000 Investment fraud ($1.2M from investors) + fraudulent CARES Act loan ($96K) | guilty plea | 45 months | 2024-02-08 | |
| Joseph McKeon | Union County Man Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for $900,000 COVID-19 Relief Program Fraud | PPP | wire fraud and money laundering | $900,000 fraudulent PPP loan and forgiveness applications amount | plea | 24 months | 2025-05-06 |
| Edmond Haxhillari | Husband and Wife Each Sentenced to 12 Months in Prison for Covid Fraud | EIDL | wire fraud and money laundering | $790,000 fraudulently obtaining | guilty plea | 12 months | 2025-05-27 |
| Jose Tavares | UI | conspiracy to commit wire fraud | $570,000 loss | trial | 40 months | 2025-03-04 | |
| Richard Hyland | OWCP/WC | making false statements to obtain federal workers' compensation benefits (18 U.S.C. § 1920) | $479,000 restitution ordered | guilty plea | 2025-10-22 | ||
| Jane Batista | Florida Woman Sentenced to 18 Months' Imprisonment for COVID-19 Relief Program Fraud (USAO New Jersey, 2026) | PPP | wire fraud, money laundering | $465,489 PPP loan proceeds received | guilty plea | 18 months | 2026-04-20 |
| Cornell McCoy | United States v. Cornell McCoy — D.N.J., Camden, No. 1:22-cr-00186-KMW | PPP | $251,743.49 restitution ordered | 6 months | |||
| Bernard Lopez | D.N.J. No. 3:21-cr-00329 | PPP | bank fraud, theft of government funds | $211,886 obtained | plea | 30 months | 2021-12-09 |
| Damaris Tineo Abreu | United States v. Damaris Valerio a/k/a Damaris Tineo Abreu — D.N.J. | PPP/EIDL/UI | wire fraud, money laundering | $194,212 COVID-19 emergency relief funds, which included loans and cash advances meant for distressed small businesses under the EIDL program and PPP, and pandemic unemployment insurance benefits | guilty plea | 20 months | 2026-04-17 |
| Damaris Valerio | United States v. Damaris Valerio — D.N.J., No. 3:25-cr-00414-RK | PPP | $194,212 restitution ordered | 20 months | 2026-04-14 | ||
| Sieff Robert Sargeant | United States v. Sieff Robert Sargeant — U.S. District Court, D.N.J. | PPP | $155,014.52 restitution ordered | 6 months | |||
| George Leguen | EIDL | wire fraud, money laundering | $149,900 EIDL loan proceeds received | guilty plea | 20 months | 2025-05-30 | |
| Roy John Depack Jr. | EIDL | Disaster Benefits Fraud, Business Impersonation Fraud, COVID-19 Loan Fraud, and Treasury Check Fraud | $123,489 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 42 months | 2023-09-07 | |
| Morton Chirnomas | Passaic County Lawyer Sentenced To 21 Months for Fraudulently Obtaining More Than $300,000 in Covid-19 Relief Funds | EIDL/UI | wire fraud | guilty plea | 21 months | 2025-06-09 |
Data and method
Each row is one row of the pandemic-relief sentences table, printed as that table prints it: defendant, program, charge, amount and its basis, disposition, and the date of the source the row was read from. A blank cell is a blank cell in the table. The sentence column states the months of imprisonment the table records, or the years of probation where it records no custodial term. A case page is linked only where a case page in this district names the defendant; 9 of the 32 rows do. District is the table’s own district field, resolved to this court. Rows whose district field names only a state with more than one federal district are not placed on any district page. A date the table writes in another form is restated as YYYY-MM-DD; a cell that is not a date is printed as it stands. An amount of $1 billion or more is left out: those cells carry a program appropriation quoted in the source release, not a sum attributed to the defendant. Some defendants have more than one row because the table read them from more than one source.
Court hub: U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey — every filing in the archive from this court, with the case pages it holds.