Reports

Greenbelt, Maryland – Zakria Hussain, 28, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance claims. According to the plea agreement, beginning in at least March 2021, and continuing until about August 2022, Hussain and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States, the State of Maryland, multiple financial institutions, and multiple individuals.

The COVID-19 Pandemic presented the Department with many challenges and obstacles including a sharp increase in the volume of unemployment claims as well as the expansion of regular unemployment benefits by the federal government. The Department did not have the man-power or technology resources to adequately deal with this drastic increase in claim activity and the addition of new federal unemployment funding. The Department’s legacy unemployment System, Ohio Job Insurance (OJI), has been in place since 2004. Due to its age and functionality, it was unable to handle the increased volume of...

South Florida native and former National Football League (NFL) Player Kenbrell Armod Thompkins, 33, pled guilty this week in federal district court to stealing other peoples’ identities to fraudulently obtain Covid-19-related unemployment insurance benefits.

This audit report is the fifth and final in a series of audit reports on Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) claims processing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies that Michigan's UIA did not accurately assess fraud penalties on claims when it determined intentional misrepresentation occurred, and estimates the agency undercalculated penalties on these claims by nearly 50 percent.

TULSA, Okla. – The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG) this month stopped payment on nearly 3,800 fraudulently filed unemployment insurance claims, including 1,300 filed from a range of IP addresses located in London, England, announced Trent Shores, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma; Steven Grell, Special Agent-in-Charge, Dallas Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; and Mike Hunter, Oklahoma Attorney General.

Greenbelt, Maryland – Lawrence Nathanial Harris, 33, of Temple Hills Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with submitting fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance (UI) claims. Additionally, in a separate case, he pled guilty to possession of a machine gun, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense.

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment adding two new defendants to the nine defendants previously charged in relation to a Maryland and California unemployment insurance scheme. The superseding indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and stealing a post office key. The superseding indictment was returned on November 30, 2022.

Sylvester Atekwane, age 32, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in relation to a CARES-Act unemployment insurance fraud scheme. As part of his guilty plea, Atekwane will be required to pay at least $250,000 in restitution.

This audit focuses on information and recommendations we can provide to improve the Oregon Employment Department's (OED) unemployment insurance system ahead of future surges in unemployment, similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have found that OED has made progress addressing some of the most public concerns, such as the inability of its phone-based system to handle the spike in claims that occurred in March 2020. Additionally, Oregon fared comparatively well in terms of fraud within their unemployment insurance program.

This report provides the results of our evaluation of the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s (LWC) Unemployment Insurance program (State UI) and federally funded COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment assistance programs (Federal UI). The purpose of this report was to identify potential overpayments or improper unemployment benefit payments LWC made to claimants. Overall, we found that LWC made approximately $2.9 million in payments that potentially violated unemployment benefit program rules outlined in federal and/or state law, including payments to claimants enrolled in multiple programs at...