Yoel Weiss, 42, of Scranton, has been indicted on 41 federal charges, including wire fraud, false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA), identity theft, unlawful monetary transactions, and witness tampering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Weiss is accused of obtaining nearly $850,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds by filing fraudulent applications on behalf of multiple corporate entities he owned in Pennsylvania and New York. These funds were reportedly used for personal expenses instead of legitimate business purposes.
The fraudulent EIDL applications, which were submitted under the CARES Act, claimed false business information such as non-existent start dates, inflated employee counts, and fabricated revenue and expenses.
In addition to the fraud charges, Weiss is accused of threatening a witness to influence their testimony before a federal grand jury.
If convicted, Weiss faces up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charges, along with supervised release and fines. However, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.