Middlesex County Woman Admits to COVID-19 Relief Program Fraud

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, dated June 25, 2025. Damaris Valerio of Perth Amboy, New Jersey pleaded guilty before Judge Robert Kirsch to an information charging one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The release says that from April 2020 through December 2021 she fraudulently obtained $194,212 in COVID-19 emergency relief funds, including EIDL and PPP loans and cash advances and pandemic unemployment insurance benefits, using false applications that inflated her business's revenues, payroll expenses and number of employees. Wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and money laundering 10 years; sentencing is scheduled for October 28, 2025.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Middlesex County Woman Admits to
COVID-19 Relief Program Fraud
Wednesday, June 25, 2025

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, woman admitted that she
fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”), Paycheck Protection
Program (“PPP”), and pandemic unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Alina
Habba announced.

Damaris Valerio, a/k/a Damaris Tineo Abreu, 42, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, pleaded
guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to an information charging her with one
count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From April 2020 through December 2021, Valerio fraudulently obtained $194,212 in
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 meant for unemployed workers, by submitting false
and fraudulent applications inflating her business’s revenues, payroll expenses, and
number of employees. After receiving the fraudulent funds, she diverted proceeds from
the relief programs for her personal gain.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum
fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain to the defendant or gross loss to the victim,
whichever is greater. The money laundering charge count carries a maximum penalty of
10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain to the defendant or loss
to the victim, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for October 28, 2025.

U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky
J. Patel in Newark; Special Agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General, Northeast Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan
Mellone, and special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector
General’s Boston-New York Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Amy Connelly, with the investigation leading to this guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin D. Bleiberg and
Fatime Meka Cano of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

The District of New Jersey COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force is one of five strike
forces established throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to
investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud. The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-
state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational
actors. The strike forces are interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led
and data analyst-driven teams designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole
pandemic relief funds.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud
Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

                                                      ###

Defense Counsel: John Russo, Esq, of New York.

valerio.information.pdf
Updated June 25, 2025

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Component
USAO - New Jersey
Press Release Number: 25-205


File and source

File

2025-06-26-Middlesex-County-Woman-Admits-to-COVID-19-Relief-Program-Fraud-USAO-D-NJ-06-25-2025.pdf

Size

84,653 bytes

SHA-256

772c2fb3f917527d8e952f03c8ec670a8e4e0f7b4722b0587de6ecaee75011b4

Our copy

2025-06-26-Middlesex-County-Woman-Admits-to-COVID-19-Relief-Program-Fraud-USAO-D-NJ-06-25-2025.pdf

Original

www.oig.dol.gov