TRENTON, N.J. — A Sparta man convicted of fraudulently collecting more than $2.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief money has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said.
Nikenson Jean Mathurin, 46, who also used the names “Nik Mathurin” and “Jean Mathurin,” was sentenced Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court. In addition to the prison term, Shipp ordered Mathurin to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $2,131,747 in restitution.
A federal jury found Mathurin guilty in May 2026 of three counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering after a four-day trial.
Prosecutors said that starting in April 2020, Mathurin submitted 15 fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds on behalf of businesses he said he owned. Congress created the programs to help small businesses survive the economic fallout of the pandemic and keep workers on the payroll.
According to court documents and trial evidence, the applications misstated the businesses’ average monthly payroll, gross revenue and number of employees, among other details, and were backed by fake tax documents and payroll records. Lenders and the Small Business Administration paid out more than $2.1 million as a result, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced the sentence and credited special agents with IRS Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan, with the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Stark and Fatime Meka Cano of the office’s Criminal Division in Newark prosecuted the case. Mathurin was represented by attorney Serguel Akiti.
The case was brought through the District of New Jersey COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force, one of five such teams the Justice Department set up nationwide to pursue large-scale pandemic relief fraud, including schemes by criminal organizations and transnational actors.
The Justice Department asks anyone with information about attempted COVID-19 fraud to call the National Center for Disaster Fraud hotline at 866-720-5721 or file a complaint online through the center’s web form.
This report is based on information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office press release
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