FARMINGDALE, NJ — A man and a woman who used to live in Monmouth County and now reside in Frisco, Texas were arrested Wednesday after federal prosecutors say they ran a massive $3 million Paycheck Protection Program fraud scheme.
Charged are Jean E. Rabbitt, 51, and Kevin Aguilar, 51, both formerly of Farmingdale.
Federal prosecutors say Rabbitt submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of four businesses she owned.
IRS agents say she made fraudulent representations to the lenders, including a Federal Home Loan Bank member, and the Small Business Administration (SBA), including fraudulent payroll records and tax records and false certifications as to the number of employees and gross revenue of her businesses.
According to IRS records, none of the purported tax documents that Rabbitt submitted to the PPP lenders were, in fact, filed with the IRS.
Other government records showed that Rabbitt’s businesses had not in fact paid wages to any employees.
Based on Rabbitt’s alleged misrepresentations in the loan applications, Rabbitt’s businesses received approximately $3.33 million in federal COVID-19 emergency relief funds meant for distressed small businesses in the COVID pandemic and government shutdowns.
After Rabbitt’s businesses received the PPP loans through the fraudulent applications, Aguilar created sham payroll companies. Rabbitt then wrote checks from Rabbitt’s businesses to the sham payroll companies, falsely indicating on each check that the payments were…
