A Uniondale woman was sentenced to up to eight years in prison for a scheme to fraudulently obtain a $75,000 bank loan.
Between June 29, 2021, and January 18, 2022, Janelle DeFreitas planned and executed multiple schemes to fraudulently secure express business loans from Dime Bank branches using another individual as a straw person who would apply for a loan.
On June 29, 2021, DeFreitas and another person visited a Dime Bank branch located in Queens. They applied for several business express loans for businesses allegedly owned by the individual accompanying DeFreitas. The total amount requested for those loans was over $400,000.
Dime Bank requires any loan applicants to have accounts with the bank that can receive the funds if a loan is approved. The defendant and the purported owner of the businesses opened accounts for four of the companies, which all operated out of one location in Brooklyn. DeFreitas was listed as a signer on these accounts, authorized to conduct transactions including deposits and withdrawals.
Corporate documents were also provided to Dime Bank by DeFreitas, as well as documents that purported to be certificates of incorporation filed with New York State.
During the account opening process, Dime Bank performed a site visit to the one address provided for all the businesses to confirm that the businesses were real and operational. When the branch manager visited the single location for all the businesses, it did not appear that any legitimate business was being operated out of the location. Dime Bank declined to issue the loans and closed the accounts opened by the defendant.
NCDA’s investigation later determined that the documents provided to Dime by the defendant were fraudulent.
On August 19, 2021, DeFreitas attempted to get another business express loan, with a different individual, this time at a Dime Bank located in Garden City.
Again, the defendant visited the branch with a person purporting to be the business owner to discuss the possibility of applying for a business loan for $100,000. However, in this instance, the defendant did not provide her true name, and Dime Bank did not make a connection to the prior incident in Queens. The loan was denied on the same day because of credit issues.
Between June 29, 2021, and August 19, 2021, DeFreitas was connected to five account openings and six unsuccessful loan applications.
According to the investigation, between August 24 and 30, 2021, DeFreitas, still using a fake name, returned to Dime Bank in Garden City with a third individual. The defendant and her companion opened an account for a company called Katrina the Movie 1 Inc. and alleged that the man accompanying the defendant was the president and owner of the company located in Brooklyn.
After the account was opened, a loan application was submitted, which alleged that the company had over $1.2 million in annual sales.
The loan was approved on August 27, 2021, and funded on August 30, 2021, with a deposit of $75,000 into Katrina the Movie 1 Inc.’s business checking account.
To obtain the business account and loan, DeFreitas again provided fraudulent documents to Dime Bank about the company’s finances and incorporation, including a forged TD Bank statement for Katrina the Movie 1 Inc.
The investigation determined that the bank account statement was forged, and the account number given by the defendant belonged to another company’s bank account, for which the defendant was the primary contact.
On the same day that the loan was funded, DeFreitas went to the Garden City branch and made a $45,000 withdrawal in the form of two cashier’s checks, both made payable to the defendant’s mother. The funds were deposited into DeFreitas’ mother’s account and used to pay debts and bills. The remaining $30,000 in the business account was also used to pay more bills, and by September 23, 2021, the account had a balance of just under $1,000. The bank closed the account on September 27, 2021.
On September 23, 2021, and on January 18, 2022, DeFreitas again conducted similar schemes and opened accounts at a Webster Bank location and made another loan application with a Dime Bank in Westbury. On each occasion, the defendant provided the banks with fraudulent corporate documents that had been previously submitted to the other Dime locations to acquire loans.
Dime Bank declined the requested loan in January 2022.
DeFreitas, 45, was arrested on December 12, 2023, by Nassau County District Attorney Detective Investigators. She was convicted on November 19, 2025, after a jury trial before Judge Terence Murphy of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a Class C felony) and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Third Degree (a Class A misdemeanor). The defendant was acquitted of one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (a Class D felony).
DeFreitas, a second felony offender, was sentenced on March 31, 2026 to four to eight years in prison. NCDA recommended a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
“Janelle DeFreitas made a career out of lying and defrauding, setting up elaborate schemes to get access to thousands of dollars in business loans. Today, we put an end to her charade, and she is heading behind bars for nearly a decade,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Loan fraud continues to be an ongoing challenge for lenders and law enforcement that hurts banking institutions, and ultimately, consumers. My office will continue to work with lenders to stay ahead of fraudsters and prosecute them when they try to fake their way into a payday.”