A Los Angeles woman faces up to 70 years in federal prison after a California federal grand jury indicted her on Tuesday for allegedly participating in a $18 million fraud scheme employing stimulus programs established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to court documents, Marisela Nuno, 53, allegedly obtained funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs by submitting fraudulent loan applications for more than $15.7 million in PPP funds and more than $2.6 million in EIDL funds, the US Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Nuno allegedly filed applications for businesses she claimed to run knowing they contained false assertions and misrepresentations about staff counts, average monthly payrolls, gross revenue, and eligibility. The DOJ also claims that she included phony tax documents with the applications.
Prosecutors further claim Nuno utilized part of the funds for uses prohibited under the loan agreements, including as purchasing private property, financing business launch fees, and making payments to family members.
Nuno was charged with three counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
If convicted, she faces a potential term of 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count and 10 years in jail on the money laundering charge.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.
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