Montco Restaurant Owner Stole Nearly $1M In COVID Relief Funds: Feds

NORTH WALES, PA — A Montgomery County restaurant owner forged documents to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds meant for struggling businesses, federal authorities announced.

Giuseppina "Josephine” Leone, 61, of North Wales, was charged with three counts of wire fraud.

Leone and her husband owned the former Ristorante San Marco, located on 504 N. Bethlehem Pike in Ambler. It shut down on March 18, 2020 as the pandemic began and never reopened.

In April 2020, Leone applied for paycheck protection program (PPP) loans of $138,000 and $120,000 for assistance with payroll and other operating expenses, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. She claimed that the restaurant had 17 employees.

However, Leone had no intention of ever reopening, authorities said, as the property had already been sold for $1.5 million back in Oct. 2019. Leone received both loans she requested and kept the money for herself, authorities said.

She later abused another COVID relief program, the restaurant revitalization program, this time requesting $699,196 for "restaurant operations," authorities said.

The sale of the restaurant was finalized in June 2021, without a cent of relief funds ever being spent on employee wages or restaurant upkeep, according to officials.

If convicted, Leone faces up to 20 years in prison, a $750,000 fine, and and restitution of $957,196 in stolen funds.

A preliminary hearing is forthcoming.