Former restaurant owner Giuseppina “Josephine” Leone, 61, has been charged with wire fraud in connection with alleged abuses of COVID-19 relief programs, the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed earlier this week. Accused of pillaging the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), Leone, from North Wales, PA, faces three counts of fraud after supposedly submitting falsified documents for her shuttered Italian eatery, Ristorante San Marco (RSM) in Ambler, PA, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a tale of suspected deceit, authorities allege that RSM, having closed its doors temporarily in March 2020 due to the pandemic, never again welcomed patrons, despite Leone's later claim of 17 employees and operational costs needing coverage, applying for a PPP loan amounting to $138,000 in April of that year and receiving the funds following approval, an application that was later forgiven based on further alleged lies by Leone; later, in January 2021 while the restaurant remained closed, she reapplied for another PPP loan for $120,000, which followed the same pattern and was again forgiven. Amidst all this, RSM had officially changed hands, being sold in June 2021, just after Leone had bagged $699,196 in RRF funds, which she is accused of claiming went to employee wages and other eligible expenses.
Should the courts find her guilty, Leone is looking at up to 60 years behind bars, one possible sentence for each of three wire fraud counts, and could be fined up to $750,000, according to prosecutorial statements. The government also expects her to return the almost one million dollars received through her schemes, which the investigators have ordered forfeited. Assistant United States Attorney Angella Middleton is taking the case forward with a joint effort from the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations.
The justice system adheres to the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven. In Leone's case, despite the weighty accusations detailed in her indictment, this principle is maintained, reminding the public and the court alike that allegations must be marched through the gauntlet of proof under the scrutinizing eyes of justice until the gavel falls with finality on the side of conviction or acquittal.
