Reports

Tacoma – The second of two Nigerian men residing in Canada who defrauded pandemic aid programs of millions was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 54 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Tacoma – The second of two Nigerian men residing in Canada pleaded guilty Thursday September 12, 2024, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his fraud scheme that stole more than $1.3 million in federal funds, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Tacoma – A 45-year-old Nigerian citizen who defrauded U.S. COVID relief programs from his home in Canada, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 42 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Tacoma – One of two Nigerian citizens who resided in Canada, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for defrauding pandemic unemployment benefit programs in multiple states, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Tacoma – A woman who was part owner and CEO of Tacoma Baking Co. pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud in connection with nearly $350,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions – including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud.

Tacoma – A disbarred attorney, sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for stealing money from a deceased client’s estate and defrauding a friend, is now charged by information with wire fraud and making false statements in connection with a scheme to illegally claim COVID pandemic benefits, and with lying to the government about her income, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman

Seattle – One of two Nigerian citizens residing in Canada, who allegedly defrauded the pandemic unemployment benefit programs in multiple states, will make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle this afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Spokane, Washington – United States Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref announced criminal charges against two defendants in connection with millions of dollars in fraud prosecuted in the Eastern District

The Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 18 defendants in nine federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving health care services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in over $490 million in COVID-19 related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs.

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that Douglas County did not have adequate internal controls to ensure it used Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program funds for allowable purposes and for costs incurred within the period of performance. Douglas County charged $276,530 in unallowable costs to the SLFRF program for road project costs that were incurred outside of the period of performance. As a result, we are questioning these costs.

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that Island County spent $2,656,126 in CRF program funds during fiscal 2021, and passed $1,156,108 of these funds to two subrecipients who operated assistance programs. Island County also spent $2,681,211 in ERA funds during fiscal year 2021, and passed $2,638,164 of these funds to four subrecipients to provide emergency rental assistance to eligible households. Island County did not have adequate internal controls for ensuring it included all subaward information in two new subrecipient contracts for the...

In our Financial Statements and Federal Single Audit, we identified, among other things, that during fiscal year 2021, Kitsap County spent $8,109,337 and $4,695,965 in CRF and ERA program funds, respectively. To fulfill components of both programs’ objectives, the County passed $6,548,816 in CRF and $4,664,258 in ERA funds through to subrecipients to provide emergency rental assistance to eligible households. The subrecipients were responsible for determining which households were eligible to receive funds and then providing assistance to them. The County requested and obtained supporting...

Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 5 years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his attempt to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United States government, including approximately $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma – A former employee of Washington State’s Employment Security Department (ESD) was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to five years in prison for three federal felonies for his scheme to exploit his employment for personal enrichment and to fraudulently distribute at least $360,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown

Through this report, we identified several state departments, including the Washington State Office of Management, Department of Commerce, and Department of Social and Health Services, that did not have adequate internal controls, nor comply with certain requirements, for Coronavirus Relief Funds

Tacoma – A former employee of Washington State’s Employment Security Department pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three federal felonies for his scheme to exploit his employment for personal enrichment and to fraudulently distribute at least $360,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Seattle – A 28-year-old New York City man was indicted this week in the Western District of Washington for three counts of bank fraud related to his abuse of the COVID-19 Pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma - A former Port Angeles, Washington, naturopathic physician was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 8 months in prison and one year of supervised release for a federal felony related to his misbranding, and sale in interstate commerce, of products he claimed could prevent and treat numerous serious diseases, including COVID-19 and MRSA, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas W. Brown.

Seattle – A Redmond, Washington, man who held himself out as a biotech expert was sentenced today in federal court for introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Seattle – A former Seattle doctor was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 4 years in prison for fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

On October 27, 2020, the Employment Security Department (ESD) notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds, as required by state law. Our investigation determined a misappropriation of unemployment insurance benefit funds occurred at ESD, totaling $315,282, and that ESD made an additional $121,503 in questionable payments related to this situation between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. ESD also referred the case to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

A federal jury convicted a Seattle doctor yesterday of fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million and obtaining over $2.8 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

Seattle – A Seattle area pair was indicted today in the Western District of Washington, for more than $1 million in fraud on COVID-19 relief programs, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma – A former employee of Washington State’s Employment Security Department has been charged in a 20-count indictment for his scheme to exploit his employment for personal enrichment and to fraudulently distribute at least $360,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

A Washington state tech executive was sentenced today in the Western District of Washington to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Seattle – A Washington State man was sentenced today to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief

A Washington State man was sentenced today to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic had wide-ranging impacts within King County. County leaders and staff worked hard to shift practices to meet the needs of the changing environment. Our analysis and survey results indicate that employee experience and confidence in safety measures varied across the county, potentially indicating increased exposure risk for some employees.

Seattle – A Nigerian citizen arrested May 14, 2021 at JFK Airport in New York, is now indicted for conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman

Seattle – A Nigerian citizen was arrested Friday evening at JFK Airport in New York on a criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

This report contains the results of our investigation of the illegitimate unemployment claims and payments at the Department from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The purpose of our investigation was to determine if a misappropriation had occurred and to provide the Department with recommendations to improve internal controls.

The novel coronavirus quickly became a global pandemic in 2020. In March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act to help provide support for those affected by the pandemic. Washington’s Employment Security Department administers the state’s unemployment compensation program. From early in the pandemic, news organizations reported on customer service delays and fraud in Washington’s Unemployment Insurance program. Th is audit examines the scope of and reasons behind substantial fraud and customer service delays in the state’s unemployment benefits program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on our risk assessment for the years ended June 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018, the areas examined were those representing the highest risk of fraud, loss, abuse, or noncompliance. We examined the following areas during this audit period. Accounts payable – general disbursements and electronic funds transfers, Payroll – gross wages and overtime, Paid family and medical leave – billing and compliance with eligibility, Procurement – information technology contracts and change orders.

Seattle – A Washington tech executive pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his scheme to obtain over $5.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and laundering the proceeds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman for the Western District of Washington.

Seattle - A Redmond, Washington, man who held himself out as a biotech expert was arrested today on a federal warrant charging him with introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

Seattle — A respiratory therapist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Seattle was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three months in prison and nine months of home confinement for theft of government property, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

State management is responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining internal controls to ensure the financial statements are fairly presented, and to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and to prevent and detect fraud. We identified deficiencies in internal controls at the Employment Security Department (ESD) that adversely affected the State’s ability to prevent and detect fraud.

In accordance with Revised Code of Washington 43.88.027, the Office of Financial Management has prepared this Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) of the state of Washington for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the use of Public Health Emergency Leave aligned with Port policy. In order to achieve this objective, Internal Audit utilized a risk-based approach, selected a sample of individuals who took Public Health Emergency Leave.

This report is the second in a series of savings-focused best practice reviews to be conducted by the Auditor’s Office. We conducted this analysis to illustrate some of the potential furlough options policymakers have when making decisions about how to reduce the County’s costs. Individual departments could also implement these types of furlough structures for their employees. We are not making recommendations at this time.

This report describes the overall results and conclusions for the areas we examined related to the Unemployment Tax and Benefits (UTAB) system’s application and general information technology (IT) controls. In most of the areas we examined, controls were not adequately designed and implemented to provide reasonable assurance of complete, accurate, secure and available data.

This report is a review of risks and possible mitigation strategies related to remote work decisions. The office has not yet completed its assessment of the County’s transitions to remote work and are not yet making recommendations because of the evolving nature of these decisions. However, when the office’s assessment is complete, it will use the information in this document as a starting point for making recommendations in the future.