Federal district · prosecutions
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
20 pandemic-relief fraud prosecution records for the Southern District of New York, naming 20 defendants. By program: 12 PPP, 4 EIDL, 4 unemployment insurance. 6 have a case page in the archive. An amount is stated for 19 of them, from $294,624 to $71,711,893.07. Source dates run from 2021-08-11 to 2025-12-01.
Cases
20 defendants · 6 with a case page · sorted by amount, largest first
| Defendant | Case page | Program | Charge | Amount | Disposition | Sentence | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAFAEL MARTINEZ | Rafael Martinez MBE Capital PPP case — U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. | PPP | conspiring to commit wire fraud | $71,711,893.07 restitution ordered | plea | 54 months | 2023-07-27 |
| Amos Mundendi | USA v. Bella — Amos Mundendi filings, U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. | PPP/EIDL | participation in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $30 million in Government-guaranteed loans | $30,000,000 Government-guaranteed loans designed to provide relief to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic | guilty plea | 42 months | 2023-02-14 |
| Muge Ma | Chinese National Sentenced To 52 Months For $20 Million Covid-19 Pandemic Loan Fraud Scheme | PPP/EIDL | bank fraud, aggravated identity theft | $20,000,000 amount sought | plea | 52 months | 2022-04-21 |
| Yohauris Rodriguez Hernandez | Citizen Of Dominican Republic Sentenced To 79 Months In Prison For $16 Million COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits Fraud Scheme | UI | conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft | $16,100,000.00 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 79 months | 2024-01-30 |
| Jacob Carter | Mount Vernon Native Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Orchestrating $7.6 Million COVID-19 Fraud Scheme | EIDL | conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft | $10,000,000 amount sought | jury trial | 132 months | 2025-02-27 |
| ADEDAYO ILORI | USA v. Ilori et al — U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York | PPP/EIDL | identity theft and COVID-19 loan fraud scheme | $10,000,000 amount sought | sentenced | 300 months | 2023-10-23 |
| SHENG-WEN CHENG | Fintech CEO Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Multiple Fraud Schemes, Including $7 Million COVID-19 Loan Fraud | PPP, EIDL | major fraud against the United States, bank fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud | $7,000,000 attempted | plea | 72 months | 2021-08-11 |
| Apocalypse Bella | USA v. Bella — Amos Mundendi filings, U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. | PPP/EIDL | $4,088,084.42 restitution ordered | 40 months | 2022-10-27 | ||
| Ameet Goyal | Rye Ophthalmologist Sentenced to 96 Months in Prison for Seven-Year Healthcare Fraud Scheme and COVID-19 Loan Fraud Judgment in a Criminal Case — U.S. v. Ameet Goyal, 7:19-CR-00844 (CS) (S.D.N.Y.), Dkt. 108 | PPP | wire fraud, false statements, bank fraud, false claims | $3,600,000 largest figure in the release | plea | 96 months | 2022-03-03 |
| Juan Carlos Castro Gonzalez | Bronx Man Sentenced To 40 Months In Connection With COVID-19-Related Tax And Unemployment Fraud Schemes | UI | tax fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud | $3,363,000 COVID-19 tax fraud and UI fraud (intended losses >$3.3M; actual losses >$570K) | guilty plea | 40 months | 2023-01-04 |
| Alicia Ayers and Andrea Ayers | Three Defendants Charged In $1.6 Million Covid-19 Fraud Scheme | EIDL | conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements | $3,000,000 attempted | plea | 42 months | 2024-04-26 |
| Konrad Bicher | Self-Proclaimed "Wolf Of Airbnb" Sentenced To 51 Months In Prison In Connection With PPP And Real Estate Fraud Scheme | PPP, Real Estate Fraud | false statements, wire fraud | $2,227,371.58 actual loss | plea | 51 months | 2024-07-22 |
| Elizier Scher | Spring Valley Man Sentenced To One Year And One Day In Prison For $1.6 Million COVID-19 Fraud Scheme | EIDL | wire fraud, false statements | $1,648,900 fraudulently obtained EIDL loans | guilty plea | 13 months | 2024-01-17 |
| DOUGLAS RAYMOND ARNTSEN | Disbarred Attorney Sentenced To Nine Years In Prison For COVID-19 Relief Loan Fraud Scheme | EIDL | scheme to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) of more than $1.4 million in government-funded loans | $1,400,000 loss (release: scheme to defraud the SBA of more than $1.4 million) | sentenced | 108 months | 2024-05-21 |
| Chris Recamier | United States v. Chris Recamier — S.D.N.Y., No. 1:21-cr-00746-MKV | PPP/EIDL | $1,072,062.47 restitution ordered | 108 months | |||
| Wilkins Estrella | UI/PUA | conspiracy to commit wire fraud; aggravated identity theft | $951,000 restitution ordered | guilty plea | 24 months | 2025-12-01 | |
| Tatiana Daniel | Tatiana Daniel Was Sentenced Today to 33 Months in Prison for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud — Southern District of New York | PPP/EIDL/UI/Hotel Isolation | conspiracy to commit wire fraud | $401,206 obtained | sentenced | 33 months | 2024-03-06 |
| Chanette Lewis | United States v. Chanette Lewis — S.D.N.Y., No. 21 Mag. 9354 (1:21-mj-09354-UA) | UI/COVID-19/NYCHA | conspiracy to commit COVID-19 pandemic fraud, unemployment benefits fraud, NYCHA fraud | $360,330 obtained | sentenced | 36 months | 2024-02-08 |
| Tatiana Benjamin | U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Brooklyn Woman Sentenced To 33 Months In Prison For Multifaceted COVID-19 Fraud Scheme (USAO SD-NY 03/06/2024) (2024-03-13) | Hotel Isolation Program/UI/PPP/EIDL | Conspiracy to commit wire fraud | $294,624 restitution | guilty plea | 12.03 months | 2024 |
| Mackenzy Toussaint | Order — United States v. Mackenzy Toussaint, 1:21-cr-00247 (S.D.N.Y., Document 294) | PPP/EIDL | 90 months |
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; 6 of the 20 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 Southern District of New York — every filing in the archive from this court, with the case pages it holds.