A Passaic County attorney has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining over $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced the sentencing of Morton Chirnomas, a 62-year-old resident of Clifton, New Jersey. Chirnomas had previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn, who imposed the sentence in Camden federal court.
Chirnomas was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. The case documents and court statements revealed that from May 2020 to September 2020, Chirnomas secured a $150,000 loan through the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans program under false pretenses. Additionally, he obtained $200,000 in unemployment insurance benefits by using other individuals’ names and identities without their consent.
U.S. Attorney Habba credited several agencies for their roles in the investigation leading to Chirnomas’s sentencing. These included postal inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark under Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen; special agents from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Region under Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone; and FBI special agents led by Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan from the Cybercrime Unit in Newark represented the government.
The District of New Jersey COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force is part of a national initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat pandemic-related frauds on a large scale across multiple states and involving criminal organizations and transnational actors.
Individuals with information regarding attempted COVID-19 fraud can report it through the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline or via their web complaint form.
