A Scranton resident, Yoel Weiss, 43, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison on August 20, 2025. The sentencing was handed down by United States District Judge Karoline Mehalchick following Weiss’s guilty plea to one count of wire fraud and one count of unlawful monetary transactions related to a COVID-19 pandemic relief scheme. In addition to his prison term, Weiss must pay $858,000 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after his incarceration.
Acting United States Attorney John Gurganus stated that in June and July of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Weiss submitted at least seven fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program funds. These applications were filed under corporate entities that did not operate as real businesses and included false information about business establishment dates, employee numbers, revenues, costs of goods sold, and rental income.
Authorities said that once Weiss received nearly one million dollars in stimulus funds from the EIDL program—which was established by the March 2020 CARES Act to support small businesses facing financial hardship—he used the money for personal expenses rather than approved business costs. His spending included retail purchases, paying off credit card debt, buying a distillery property in New York, and other real estate acquisitions.
Weiss also faced an enhanced sentence due to obstruction of justice after attempting to influence a witness subpoenaed before a federal grand jury.
“Mr. Weiss deliberately and repeatedly defrauded the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program designed to help small business owners during the COVID pandemic for his own personal enrichment,” said Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. “Yesterday’s sentencing holds Mr. Weiss accountable for his criminal actions and shows that our office continues working to bring charges against individuals who commit these crimes.”
The EIDL program offers low-interest loans intended for specific business needs such as fixed debts or payroll obligations.
In response to widespread fraud during the pandemic period, the Attorney General created the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force on May 17, 2021. This task force brings together resources from across government agencies with the aim of investigating and prosecuting those responsible for pandemic-related fraud. More information is available at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with knowledge about potential COVID-19 fraud can report it via the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or through their web complaint form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
The investigation into this case was conducted by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Luisa Honora Berti prosecuted the case.
