Reports

BOSTON – A Haverhill man was arrested and charged today in connection with a Massachusetts Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claim he filed in 2020 for a man who was living in Brazil and who has since been charged with migrant smuggling, among other offenses.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – An indictment was unsealed after a California man was arrested and is scheduled to appear in a Salt Lake City federal courthouse. The eight count indictment charges the defendant for unlawfully collecting unemployment insurance during COVID-19 from California while living and working in Utah. He also allegedly assisted others in committing the same acts for a cut of their unemployment insurance funds administered under the CARES Act.

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico returned a superseding indictment charging four men with one count of conspiracy to launder funds from wire, mail, and access device fraud schemes. One defendant, Oluwasegun Baiyewu, was previously charged on Oct. 21, 2021.

U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Medard Ulysse, age 38, most recently of Miami, Florida, today to nine years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in relation to multiple fraud schemes, including an elder fraud “grandparent” scam and a COVID-19 CARES Act fraud related to unemployment benefits. Judge Bennett also ordered Ulysse to pay restitution totaling $2,485,512. Of that amount $1,866,745 is for the elder fraud scam and $618,767 is for the unemployment benefits scheme.

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the results achieved by the Middle District of Florida’s efforts to combat fraud related to COVID-19. Those efforts have included complementary actions by the Criminal, Asset Recovery, and Civil Divisions, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.