Trenton, New Jersey.U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said Thursday that a woman from Perth Amboy had acknowledged to filing fraudulent applications to acquire over $190,000 in federal COVID-19 assistance funding, including loans and unemployment payments.
Before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch, 42-year-old Damaris Valerio, also known as Damaris Tineo Abreu, entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
According to court filings, Valerio fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment benefits, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) money between April 2020 and December 2021. To be eligible for the programs, she falsified payroll records, staff counts, and business earnings.
According to authorities, Valerio violated the provisions of the aid programs by using the $194,212 in monies that he finally got for personal needs.
October is the scheduled sentencing date while the investigation is ongoing.
The maximum penalty for the wire fraud charge is 20 years in jail and a fine of $250,000, which is equal to twice the gain or loss. The same financial penalties and a maximum of 10 years in jail are associated with the money laundering accusation. The sentencing hearing for Valerio is set for October 28.
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Labor, and the Office of the Inspector General at the Social Security Administration carried out the investigation.
