Shelton Man Admits Fraudulently Obtaining COVID-19 Relief Funds (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut, March 3, 2025)

Summary

Press release of March 3, 2025 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. Vincenzo Minutolo, 38, of Shelton, waived indictment and pleaded guilty on February 28, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to two counts of wire fraud. Between March and September 2021 he obtained more than $145,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans for City Sounds Productions LLC with inflated income figures and tax filings never filed with the IRS. Between March 2020 and April 2021 he also took at least $86,000, and as much as about $273,000, from the Connecticut Department of Labor through unemployment claims in other people's names, including his grandfather, who died in 2014. Sentencing was set for May 23, and he was released on a $50,000 bond.

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PRESS RELEASE

Shelton Man Admits Fraudulently
Obtaining COVID-19 Relief Funds
Monday, March 3, 2025

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

Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today
announced that on February 28, 2025, VINCENZO MINUTOLO, 38, of Shelton, waived his
right to be indicted and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in
Bridgeport to offenses related to his fraudulent receipt of COVID-19 relief funds.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on March 2020, the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided emergency
financial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-
19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of
forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses
through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In April 2020, Congress authorized
more than $300 billion in additional PPP funding. The PPP allowed qualifying small
businesses and other organizations to receive unsecured loans at an interest rate of
1%. PPP loan proceeds were to be used by businesses on payroll costs, interest on
mortgages, rent and utilities. The PPP allowed the interest and principal to be forgiven if
businesses spent the proceeds on these expenses within a certain period of time of
receipt and used at least a certain percentage of the amount to be forgiven for payroll.

The PPP was overseen by the Small Business Administration, which has authority over all
PPP loans. Individual PPP loans, however, were issued by private approved lenders,
which received and processed PPP applications and supporting documentation, and
then made loans using the lenders’ own funds, which were guaranteed by the SBA.

Minutolo claimed an ownership interest or representative relationship with City Sounds
Productions LLC (“City Sounds”). Between March and September 2021, Minutolo
defrauded the PPP loan program of more than $145,000 by providing false information
on loan applications for City Sounds, including overstating the yearly gross income for
City Sounds; misrepresenting that similar PPP loans had not been or would not be
sought when he had, in fact, sought and obtained, and intended to seek and obtain,
such loans; and providing fraudulent IRS tax filings and tax payment vouchers for City
Sounds that had, in fact, never been filed with the IRS. Similarly, on the forgiveness
applications he submitted, Minutolo materially misrepresented having complied with all
the requirements of the PPP rules.

In addition, the CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance
program for pandemic unemployment assistance (“Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance”). Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provided unemployment insurance
(“UI”) benefits for employed individuals who are not eligible for other types of UI due to
their employment status. The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program
called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (“FPUC”) that provided
additional weekly benefits to those eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or
regular UI. The Connecticut Department of Labor (CT-DOL) administers UI benefits for
residents of Connecticut.

Between March 2020 and April 2021, Minutolo defrauded the CT-DOL of at least
$86,000, and as much as approximately $273,000, by providing the CT-DOL with
fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance applications seeking unemployment
insurance payments in others’ names, including individuals who had died, and
individuals who did not know that their name and sometimes other personal
information was being used. One fraudulent application was for Minutolo’s grandfather,
who died in 2014, and included a telephone number associated with
Minutolo. Minutolo continued to make online weekly certifications to the CT-DOL
attesting that the information contained in his grandfather’s application, and other
applications, were true in order to receive continued unemployment insurance benefits.

Minutolo pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum
term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count. Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing
for May 23. Minutolo is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.

This matter is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and the U.S.
Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser.

Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are
encouraged to 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.

Updated March 3, 2025
Topics
CORONAVIRUS

DISASTER FRAUD

FINANCIAL FRAUD

Component
USAO - Connecticut

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