Ex-Farmingdale Pair Indicted In $3.75M COVID Loan Scheme: US Attorney

NEWARK, NJ – Two former Farmingdale residents have been indicted on charges they fraudulently obtained nearly $3.75 million in federal pandemic-related loans and used the money for personal expenses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Thursday.

Jean E. Rabbitt, 52, and Kevin Aguilar, 52, now both of Sherman, Texas, are, according to federal authorities, each charged by indictment with:

• One count of conspiracy to engage bank fraud.
• Seven counts of bank fraud.
• One count of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud.
• Three counts of wire fraud.
• Conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
• One count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
• One count of aggravated identity theft.

Rabbitt is additionally charged with one count of making a false statement in a loan application, authorities said.

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

Rabbitt and Aguilar submitted seven fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan applications on behalf of four businesses that Rabbitt owned or controlled, and they made multiple false statements in their PPP applications, at least one of which was submitted to a Federal Home Loan Bank member, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a news release.

The activity began "as early as on or around April 2020" to about April 2021, the indictment says.

The lenders approved PPP loans totaling $3.33 million, and transmitted those funds to Rabbitt’s businesses, authorities said.

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of March 2020 was meant to give emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

One source of relief in the CARES Act was the authorization of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses through the Paycheck Protection Program, the office noted.

Rabbitt and Aguilar also submitted fraudulent applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration under the federal Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, federal authorities said.

Based on false statements in those applications, the SBA approved Economic Injury Disaster loans to three of Rabbitt’s businesses, totaling approximately $447,000, authorities said.

After receiving the paycheck protection and economic injury funds, Rabbitt and Aguilar transferred those funds to other businesses that Aguilar created to give the false appearance that the funds were being used for legitimate purposes, authorities said.

Aguilar and Rabbitt then used the funds for personal expenses, federal authorities said.

Rabbitt and Aguilar also engaged in identity theft by submitting an Economic Injury Disaster loan application using the name and identifying information of an individual who did not authorize the use of that information, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Rabbitt is also charged with making a false statement on a loan application, including with respect to her gross monthly income, in order to obtain financing to purchase a new truck from a Monmouth County car dealership, the indictment says.

The pair were originally charged in the matter in March 2022. At the time, federal authorities said Rabbit and Aguilar could face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of over $1 million if convicted of the charges.

The government is represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Health Care Fraud Unit, in Newark.

The Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud, according to the news release.

For more information on the DOJ's response to the pandemic, visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

No information on counsel for the defendants was available.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia Tarasca in New York; special agents of IRS, Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Tammy Tomlins; special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Sharon MacDermott; postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen, Philadelphia Division; special agents of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Manchak; and special agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Mahoney.