Restaurant Owner’s $957,196 COVID-19 Relief Heist Exposed

PHILADELPHIA – In a jaw-dropping betrayal of trust, Giuseppina ‘Josephine’ Leone, 61, of North Wales, PA, has been charged with three counts of wire fraud for her role in scamming COVID-19 relief programs.

The indictment alleges that Leone, along with her husband, owned Ristorante San Marco, an Italian restaurant located in Ambler, PA. Despite the restaurant being closed since March 2020, Leone submitted three separate fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and one for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) grant.

Leone’s first PPP loan application, submitted in April 2020, claimed that Ristorante San Marco had 17 employees and would use the $138,000 loan for payroll and operating expenses. The loan was approved and the funds deposited into the restaurant’s bank account. The loan was later forgiven due to further misrepresentations by Leone.

Just a few months later, in January 2021, Leone submitted another PPP loan application, this time seeking $120,000. The application made similar misrepresentations and was approved, resulting in the funds being deposited into the restaurant’s bank account in February 2021. Again, the PPP loan was forgiven due to misrepresentations by Leone.

Leone’s final scam was a RRF grant application submitted in May 2021, requesting $699,196 for restaurant operations. The application mispresented that Ristorante San Marco was in operation and that the money would be used to pay employee wages. As a result of this deception, the request was approved and the funds deposited into the restaurant’s bank account. One month later, in June 2021, Leone closed on the sale of Ristorante San Marco.

Now, Leone faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison for each count and a total fine of $750,000. The defendant will also be required to forfeit all proceeds received as a result of the alleged fraud, including the sum of $957,196.

The case was investigated by the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Angella Middleton.

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.