Reports

The government estimates that the overseas scammers stole over $1 million.

BOSTON – The founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the local nonprofit Violence in Boston (VIB) pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to making misrepresentations in order to obtain thousands of dollars in donations to non-profit Violence in Boston (VIB) that she then diverted to pay for personal expenses, defrauding the City of Boston out of COVID-19 relief funds and rental assistance money, defrauding the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office out of Community Reinvestment Grant funds, filing false tax return for two years, and failing to file tax returns for two years.

In a coordinated arrest by several law enforcement agencies, three defendants were arrested today for their roles in a Covid-fraud scheme targeting the California Employment Development Department.

A federal jury in Albany, Georgia, convicted a Georgia man today for his participation in a scheme to defraud the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) out of millions of dollars in benefits meant to assist unemployed individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citrus Heights residents Deshawn Oshaea Campbell, 38, and Rochelle Pasley, 35, were sentenced today to seven years and three months and five years and five months respectively and ordered to pay $1,157,000 in restitution.

Tabitha Leigh Markle, 53, of Sacramento, was sentenced today to four years and two months in prison for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in a scheme to defraud the unemployment insurance benefit program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A San Bernardino County man was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $800,000 in taxpayer funded COVID-19 relief funds by concealing his recent federal mail fraud conviction.

BOSTON - A Hopkinton couple were sentenced in federal court in Boston for separate schemes to defraud their workers’ compensation insurance carriers, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and their mortgage lender.

The defendants allegedly schemed to fraudulently obtain Covid-relief benefits.

Jaime Ornelas, 27, formerly of Modesto, was sentenced today to three years and one month in prison and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution for conspiracy to commit mail fraud arising from fraudulently submitted unemployment insurance benefits