Marisela Nuno

Introduction

Marisela Nuno, a 53-year-old woman from Los Angeles, has been charged with running an $18 million scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program — the federal stimulus programs created under the CARES Act during the COVID-19 pandemic. A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment on November 3, 2026 charging her with three counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, in an announcement made the next day by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division together with the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the SBA Office of Inspector General. She is presumed innocent, and the charges carry up to 20 years per wire-fraud count.

Background Information

The PPP and EIDL programs were built in 2020 to keep businesses alive during pandemic shutdowns, and they ran on trust: applicants attested to their payroll, headcount, and revenue, and the money moved. According to court documents, Nuno is alleged to have obtained funds from both programs by submitting false and fraudulent loan applications that collectively sought over $15.7 million in PPP funds and over $2.6 million in EIDL funds. The applications were submitted on behalf of businesses and entities she purportedly owned, and the material false statements they contained concerned, among other things, the purported entities’ number of employees, average monthly payroll, gross revenues, and eligibility for funding. She is also alleged to have submitted materially false supporting tax documentation with the applications.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted. Nuno faces an indictment returned November 3, 2026; the allegations are unproven and she is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California, alleges that Nuno did not stop at lying to get the loans — she is alleged to have used the loan funds for purposes not authorized by the PPP or the EIDL program, including the purchase of private property, business startup costs, and payments to family members. Those spending patterns are the signature investigators look for in pandemic-loan fraud: money borrowed under the color of keeping a payroll afloat flowing instead into personal assets and relatives’ pockets. The scheme’s total footprint is alleged at $18 million, built from applications seeking more than $15.7 million under PPP and more than $2.6 million under EIDL.

The charging posture is deliberately framed as an allegation. The Justice Department’s announcement states that an indictment is merely an allegation and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Nuno is charged with three counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and one count of money laundering carrying up to 10 years. No plea, arraignment date, or trial date appears in the announcement — the case stands at the indictment stage, with the full weight of the alleged scheme set out in court documents that have yet to be tested at trial.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division — the Fraud Division created on April 7, 2026, which the department describes as laser-focused on fraud committed against the American people — together with Special Agent in Charge Robert Molvar of the FBI’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Timothy Larson of the SBA Office of Inspector General. The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, IRS-CI, and SBA OIG. The case also feeds the President’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, the whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance targeting fraud, waste, and abuse in federal benefit programs.

Current Status

Nuno stands indicted in the Central District of California on three wire-fraud counts and one money-laundering count, with a combined statutory exposure of up to 70 years in prison. The indictment is the case’s current state: no conviction, no plea, and a presumption of innocence the announcing officials repeated in terms. Prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney Ariel Glasner of the Fraud Division’s Public Trust and Financial Integrity Section and Trial Attorney Edward Emokpae of the Criminal Division’s White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section. What happens next — an arraignment, a plea, or a trial — has not been announced.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 53, Nuno now faces a federal fraud indictment alleging an $18 million theft from pandemic-relief programs — the kind of charge that, even before any verdict, removes the accused from the ordinary economy of bank accounts, business credit, and professional licensing while it is litigated. The alleged scheme’s mechanics, false payroll figures, invented headcounts, fabricated tax documentation, are the exact conduct Congress targeted when it made pandemic-loan fraud a signature federal prosecution priority, and the Justice Department’s new Fraud Division has made PPP and EIDL cases a flagship of its first year. If the allegations are proven, the sentencing exposure alone — up to 70 years across the four counts — would consume the remainder of her life; if they are not, the presumption of innocence stands.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Los Angeles Woman Charged for $18M COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme,” November 4, 2026. source