Reports

A Riverside County woman who participated in a scheme that used stolen identities to fraudulently apply for just over $2.8 million in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.

SAN JUAN, P.R. – On March 23, 2022, the Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Fernando Gallardo-Álvarez and his consensual partner Olga Rivera-Dávila with a conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering violations related to fraudulently obtained funds from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland...

A woman serving a life sentence in state prison for murder was sentenced today in federal court to 84 months in federal prison for leading a ring that fraudulently obtained more than $1.5 million in California unemployment insurance (UI) benefits – mostly pandemic-related relief – by using other people’s identities, some of which belonged to her fellow California prison inmates.

A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging Ryan Dales, age 34, of Baltimore, Maryland, with wire fraud, relating to the submission of fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act. The CARES Act was a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The complaint was filed January 13, 2023, and unsealed today...