A Connecticut man received an almost two-year federal prison sentence for fraudulently obtaining over $200,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.
Vincenzo Minutolo, 39, of Shelton, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud on Feb. 28, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Court records show that Minutolo claimed an “ownership interest” or “representative relationship” with City Sounds Productions LLC. Between March and September 2021, Minutolo reportedly defrauded the federal PPP loan program of more than $145,000 by “providing false information on loan applications for City Sounds, including overstating the yearly gross income for City Sounds; misrepresenting that similar PPP loans had not been or would not be sought when he had, in fact, sought and obtained, and intended to seek and obtain, such loans; and providing fraudulent IRS tax filings and tax payment vouchers for City Sounds that had, in fact, never been filed with the IRS,” according to court records.
On the forgiveness applications he submitted, Minutolo reportedly misrepresented having complied with all the requirements of the PPP rules.
Between March 2020 and April 2021, Minutolo also reportedly defrauded the Connecticut Department of Labor of more than $140,000 by submitting fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance applications “seeking unemployment insurance payments in others’ names, including individuals who had died, and individuals who did not know that their name and sometimes other personal information was being used,” court records show. “One fraudulent application was for Minutolo’s grandfather, who died in 2014, and included a telephone number associated with Minutolo.”
According to court records, Minutolo “continued to make online weekly certifications to the CT-DOL attesting that the information contained in his grandfather’s application, and other applications, were true in order to receive continued unemployment insurance benefits.”
Minutolo, who is currently free on a $50,000 bond, is required to report to prison on Jan. 22, 2026. He was also ordered to pay $244,612 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.