Hackettstown Man Sentenced In $1.8M COVID PPP Loan Scheme: Feds

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ - A former Warren County resident was sentenced Friday for fraudulently obtaining nearly $1.8 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, federal officials said.

Rocco A. Malanga, 39, formerly of Hackettstown, was sentenced to three years in prison after Malanga previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering in June, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.

Between April and August 2020, Malanga submitted false documentation to three lenders to fraudulently obtain around $1.8 million in federal COVID-19 emergency relief dollars meant for small businesses, according to case documents statements made in court.

Malanga submitted at least three PPP loan applications on behalf of three different business entities in which he falsified the average monthly payroll and number of employees employed by each business, federal officials said.

Malanga then diverted some of the loan money to fund a business that did not receive PPP loan funds, federal officials said.

In addition to the prison term, Malanga was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered $1.8 million in restitution and $1.8 million in forfeiture.