Middlesex County Woman Sentenced to 20 Months for Defrauding Multiple COVID-19 Relief Programs (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, April 17, 2026)
Summary
Press release of April 17, 2026 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. Damaris Valerio, also known as Damaris Tineo Abreu, 42, of Perth Amboy, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to 20 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $194,212 in restitution. She had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. From April 2020 through December 2021 she obtained $194,212 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Paycheck Protection Program and pandemic unemployment funds by inflating her business's revenue, payroll and employee numbers, and used the money for herself.
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PRESS RELEASE
Middlesex County Woman Sentenced to 20
Months for Defrauding Multiple COVID-19
Relief Programs
Friday, April 17, 2026
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey
TRENTON, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, woman was sentenced to 20 months
in prison for fraudulently obtaining Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”), Paycheck
Protection Program (“PPP”), and pandemic unemployment insurance benefits, U.S.
Attorney Robert Frazer announced.
Damaris Valerio, a/k/a Damaris Tineo Abreu, 42, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, previously
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. Judge Kirsch, on April
14, imposed the sentence in Trenton federal court.
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.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kirsch sentenced Valerio to 3 years of supervised
release and ordered to pay $194,212 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Frazer credited special agents of U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge
Michael McCarthy in Newark; Special Agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of
Inspector General, under the direction of Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito, 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.
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.
The Department of Justice has established the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The
core mission of the National Fraud Enforcement Division is to zealously investigate and
prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The National Fraud
Enforcement Division will fulfill that mission by coordinating with agencies responsible
for administering benefit programs; partnering with federal, tribal, state, territorial, and
local law enforcement on fraud-fighting efforts; developing systems and processes that
ensure efficient identification of fraud against taxpayer dollars; and equipping
prosecutors and law enforcement with state-of-the-art tools and resources needed to
bring criminal actors to justice. The attorneys in the National Fraud Enforcement Division
will work every day to protect the financial integrity of our government and the tax
system that supports it.
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.
Updated April 17, 2026
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