TOMS RIVER, N.J. – Three Toms River men admitted participating in a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scheme and one of the individuals also admitted fraudulently obtaining more than $1.8 million of federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans, Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Alina Habba announced.
Mendel Deutsch, 39, of Toms River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on November 13, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel to one count of bank and wire fraud conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. Joshua Feldberger, 43, of Howell, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on October 22, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel to one count of bank fraud conspiracy.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In June 2020, co-defendant Arthur Spitzer, also of Toms River, conspired with Deutsch and Feldberger to make it appear as if Spitzer owned three properties in Brooklyn, New York and agreed to sell them to Deutsch, who obtained a $4.5 million mortgage loan in connection with the transaction.
Feldberger facilitated the fraudulent transaction as the owner of the settlement company that handled the transaction. The defendants created and sent letters stating that Deutsch had deposited significant funds into escrow toward the transaction, when in reality he had not; they created fake documentation purportedly transferring control of the properties to Spitzer; and they lied to the mortgage lender by stating that the settlement company had received more than $2 million from Deutsch at closing, which led the mortgage lender to fund the loan. The defendants then used the mortgage loan proceeds to fund Deutsch’s down payment, which he had supposedly already provided.
Further, in 2020 and 2021, Deutsch fraudulently obtained approximately $1.8 million of government loans that were intended for small businesses distressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a federal law enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CARES Act authorized the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) of up to $2 million to eligible small businesses that were experiencing substantial financial disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To obtain an EIDL loan, a qualifying small business was required to submit an application and provide information on its operations, including the number of employees and revenues or expenses. Deutsch obtained EIDL loans for businesses that had little or no operations by submitting loan applications that included false statements about the applicant companies’ number of employees, revenues, cost of goods sold, or lost rents.
The counts of bank fraud conspiracy and bank and wire fraud conspiracy are punishable by a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The count of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Feldberger is scheduled to be sentenced on February 23, 2026, and Deutsch is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16, 2026.
