Reports

Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Alexander Barabash, age 52, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 14 months in federal prison, followed by six months of home detention as part of three years of supervised release, for wire fraud relating to the submission of fraudulent Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act loan applications. The CARES Act was enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang today sentenced Jerry Phillips, a/k/a “Tian Juzo,” age 25, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, to seven years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and illegal possession of a machine gun, related to a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $1 million in COVID-19 CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program loan applications (“PPP”), Economic Injury Disaster loan applications (“EIDL”), and unemployment insurance claims. Judge Chuang also ordered Phillips to pay restitution of $1,235...

As part of our financial statements audit of the Unemployment Reserve Fund, which accounts for Wisconsin’s Unemployment Insurance program paid to eligible individuals, we provided an unmodified opinion on the Fund’s financial statements and related notes as of and for the years ended June 30, 2022, and June 30, 2021. We found the assets of the Reserve Fund exceeded liabilities at the close of fiscal year (FY) 2021-22 by almost $1.4 billion. Except for $19.2 million in certain federal allocations, the Fund’s net position, if positive, can be used only to pay unemployment benefits to eligible...

MIAMI – A federal magistrate judge in Miami has unsealed an indictment charging Patrick Ductant, 35, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., Kervens Saint-Hilaire, 35, of Hollywood, Fla., and Vladimir

BOSTON – A West Boylston man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Worcester to possessing cocaine intended for distribution and wire fraud with respect to COVID-19 relief programs.

The objectives of this audit were to determine whether the Office of State Budget and Management’s North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office designed and implemented procedures to ensure that State Fiscal Recovery Funds were being spent in accordance with State Fiscal Recovery Fund legislation and programs that received State Fiscal Recovery Funds were achieving their legislatively intended result. We found that $635 million of State Fiscal Recovery Funds were distributed with limited monitoring and $635 million of State Fiscal Recovery Funds were distributed without ensuring recipients had a...

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the New York Department of Labor is providing appropriate and timely services to workers affected by closings and layoffs that are covered under the Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification and is effectively overseeing employer compliance with the Act. We found several areas the Department could improve to better meet its obligations under the Act and ultimately the needs of dislocated workers. Specifically we found weakness in the Department's oversight of employer compliance with the advance notice requirements of the Act, among other...