Piscataway Husband And Wife Charged With Paycheck Protection Loan Fraud

PISCATAWAY, NJ — A Piscataway married couple who owned two businesses were indicted on charges that they fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, said the U.S. Attorney's office.

Sabrina Mitlo, 41, and Joseph Mitlo, 40, both formerly of Piscataway, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. They made their initial appearances on January 20 before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark, III in Newark federal court and were released on $100,000 unsecured bond.

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

From May 2020 through July 2020, Sabrina and Joseph Mitlo engaged in a scheme to illegally obtain over $715,000 in PPP loans on behalf of businesses located in New Jersey that they purportedly owned but which had no employees or payroll. To do so, the Mitlos submitted fraudulent loan applications falsely representing that their businesses had employees and payroll obligations, which included falsified tax documents purporting to show that the businesses had paid wages in prior years.

Once the PPP loans were issued into the business bank accounts, in order to obtain the loan proceeds while keeping the scheme a secret, the Mitlos arranged for a payroll service to issue payroll checks to purported employees of the businesses that did not, in fact, work for the businesses. Once the Mitlos obtained those payroll checks, Sabrina Mitlo personally cashed them at a check cashing facility and kept the proceeds.

The count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Here is their indictment: Mitlo.Indictment.pdf