The COVID-19 pandemic might be an unpleasant somewhat distant memory, but the myriad of scams and fraud rising after the initial arrival of the virus have begun to rear their ugly heads once again. It may have taken nearly six years, but one New Jersey couple is being brought to justice for exploiting the pandemic for their own personal financial gain.

Enter the fraudsters Sabrina Mitlo, 41, and Joseph Mitlo, 40, both formerly of Piscataway, New Jersey. They were indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Jersey on charges alleging that the couple stole a high six-figure amount in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. According to prosecutors, the Mitlos created multiple companies (that they owned) yet, surprise, had neither employees nor payroll. From May to July 2020 the couple obtained over $715,000 in PPP loans using falsified tax documents to “show” that their businesses had “paid” wages in previous years, according to documents submitted in order to have their PPP loans approved.

In an attempt to appear legit, 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 hired a payroll service to issue payroll checks to people who were not actually employees of any of their businesses. Once the Mitlos received those bogus payroll checks, Sabrina Mitlo herself cashed them at a check cashing business and kept the proceeds, perhaps for an extravagant shopping spree afterwards.

The Mitlos appeared in court on January 20, 2026 in Newark federal court and were released on a $100,000 unsecured bond. They face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. We can’t help but wonder how many honest and deserving businesses may have been denied PPP loans as these scammers profited from their criminal scheme.