Nassau insurance broker William Bonomo accused of stealing more than $200,000 in COVID relief

An insurance broker from Nassau County has been accused of stealing more than $200,000 in pandemic relief for businesses and the unemployed, and using some of the money to pay off his personal credit card. 

William Bonomo was charged with committing multiple crimes including wire fraud, mail fraud, disaster relief fraud and theft of public funds, according to a 16-page indictment from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court in Brooklyn in July. 

Bonomo's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. 

Bonomo is among at least 51 Long Islanders who have been arrested for bilking more than $100 million from federal and state COVID-19 relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a Newsday analysis found. 

The relief programs were hastily assembled in 2020 after the coronavirus struck and governments shut down much of the economy to slow the virus' spread. Loans were awarded to businesses in return for them not laying off employees or by rehiring them, while unemployment benefits were extended to those who lost their jobs. 

Federal prosecutors allege Bonomo submitted applications for PPP loans and COVID EIDL loans that contained false information about the businesses' revenue and how the relief funds would be used.

“A portion of the PPP and EIDL proceeds were used improperly by Bonomo for personal expenses, including credit card bills and to fund renovations to his household,” David Pitluck, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in the indictment.

The loan amounts weren't disclosed in the indictment.

But public records obtained by Newsday from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which ran both loan programs, show Bonomo’s Settlement Success Partners LLC in Melville received two PPP loans totaling about $60,100 and his WJB Services LLC in Massapequa received one COVID EIDL totaling $150,000. The latter is based at the same address as Bonomo's residence, according to the records.

The PPP loans, which were made by an undisclosed bank, were forgiven by the SBA. The COVID EIDL loan, which was made by the SBA, must be repaid over 30 years with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%, the records show. 

Prosecutors also accused Bonomo of applying for and receiving pandemic unemployment benefits between March 2020 and June 2021. They said he wasn't entitled to unemployment because he was getting “thousands of dollars per month” from two insurance companies.

The state Department of Labor has said it was overwhelmed in the first weeks of the pandemic as tens of thousands of people filed for jobless benefits, Newsday has previously reported.

The indictment doesn’t state how much in unemployment Bonomo received. But it states that he and an unnamed co-conspirator got about $100,000 from the two insurers between 2018 and 2021.

The funds should have gone to a company that once employed Bonomo and the co-conspirator. Instead, Bonomo and the co-conspirator diverted the money to a business they had started, the indictment states.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.