Former JetBlue Worker Pleads Guilty In $1.5M COVID Loan Fraud: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — A former JetBlue employee pleaded guilty for his part in a $1.5 million scheme to fraudulently get COVID-19 relief loans, authorities said.

Keily Nunez, 42, entered the plea Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors said.

Nunez is one of seven co-conspirators who are accused of fleecing the federal government out of loans that went out during the coronavirus pandemic, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

“Each of the defendants admitted to their part in stealing nearly $1.5 million from a government program designed to help struggling small businesses and families survive the pandemic,” Peace said in a statement.

The scheme hatched by Nunez and his co-conspirators — all of whom also previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges — involved applying for small business loans meant to offset losses during the pandemic, prosecutors said.

From April 2020 to November 2020, they applied for loans for 11 separate entities, and falsely represented the number of employees and revenues for them, authorities said.

In total, they obtained roughly $1.5 million that went into their bank accounts, prosecutors said.

Nunez, a former JetBlue employee, and his co-conspirators all face up to 20 years in prison.