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BOSTON – A former Suffolk County Corrections Officer was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for COVID unemployment and loan fraud.

The Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut recovered more than $9.2 million since June 2026 through settlement agreements resolving allegations that various companies violated the False Claims Act by providing false information to obtain millions of dollars in pandemic-related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for which they were not eligible.

Today, the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division along with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the SBA Office of Inspector General, as part of a Heartland Fraud Surge announced the results of Operation No Doze, a surge of criminal enforcement actions targeting fraud in SBA’s small business COVID-era loan programs.

BOSTON – A former Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department corrections officer was sentenced in federal court in Boston for submitting fraudulent information in order to obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

VINCENZO MINUTOLO, 39, of Shelton, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 21 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty yesterday to carrying out a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $137,000 from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA), the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL).

BOSTON – Two corrections officers employed by the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department were arrested today for allegedly submitting fraudulent information in an effort to obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).