Fort Myers couple sent to prison for $3.4M COVID scam

A Lee County couple has been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a COVID-era relief fraud scheme where they used the proceeds to buy houses in two states, businesses, dogs, jewelry and more. 

Timothy Craig Jolloff, 48, of Fort Myers, was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison, while Lisa Ann Jolloff, 58, of Fort Myers, was sentenced to three years, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa. In the sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Barber, the Jolloffs were also ordered to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration and to forfeit $3.4 million, which was the proceeds of the offense. 

The Jolloffs entered guilty pleas on April 24, 2024 to charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal monetary transactions, records show. 

According to the indictment and other court documents, between April and May 2020, the Jolloffs submitted false and fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program loan applications to the SBA, as well as PPP approved lenders. 

In PPP loan applications, the Jolloffs, prosecutors alleged, falsely represented the number of employees and average monthly payroll for the applicant businesses. The Jolloffs also falsely represented and certified that PPP funds would be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage interest payments, lease payments and utility payments.

In EIDL applications, meanwhile, Timothy Jolloff misrepresented the gross revenue and cost of goods sold for the applicant businesses for which he sought EIDL funds, officials contended. Timothy Jolloff also misrepresented the number of employees the EIDL applicant businesses had. “Moreover, in loan documents signed and submitted by Timothy Jolloff for EIDL loans, he misrepresented that EIDL proceeds would be used solely for working capital and to alleviate economic injury,” the DoJ says in the statement. 

The Jolloffs’ false and fraudulent representations caused the SBA and PPP lenders to approve and fund eleven EIDLs and eight PPP loans, as well as EIDL Advances, totaling approximately $3,4 million. The Jolloffs, according to the statement, then used the funds to purchase three pontoon boats totaling more than $300,000; real estate in Fort Myers and Angola, Indiana; home furnishings; outdoor kitchens for their homes; a 2019 GMC truck; a 2020 Polaris UTV; jewelry; and two dogs. 

The Jolloffs also fraudulently used more than $600,000 in EIDL funds, officials alleged, to purchase a furniture business in Indiana and New Leaf Landscape Management in Sarasota. Neither business, officials said, had any “connection to the businesses for which the Jolloffs obtained Covid relief money.”