Reports

The purpose of this audit was to identify potential improper payments the Louisiana Workforce Commission made to incarcerated individuals who, according to LWC policy and state law, were ineligible to qualify for Unemployment Insurance and federally funded COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment assistance programs. We found that LWC made approximately $6.2 million in State and Federal UI payments to 1,195 incarcerated individuals who do not appear to have been eligible for the benefits. We found that 81 percent identified through this analysis qualified through the Federal UI program designed...

Michael Akame Ngwese Ay Makoge, a/k/a “Hype” and “2Hype”, age 28, of Laurel, Maryland pleaded guilty yesterday to a wire fraud conspiracy and to aggravated identity theft, in relation to a Maryland and California unemployment insurance scheme totaling more than $1.5 million.

Michael Akame Ngwese Ay Makoge, a/k/a “Hype” and “2Hype”, age 28, of Laurel, Maryland pleaded guilty yesterday to a wire fraud conspiracy and to aggravated identity theft, in relation to a Maryland and California unemployment insurance scheme totaling more than $1.5 million.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas woman was sentenced today to 45 months in prison for using at least 40 stolen identities to fraudulently collect approximately $175,622 in unemployment insurance benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD).

The purpose of this audit was to identify potentially improper payments the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) made to deceased individuals. We found that, of the approximately $8.57 billion in State and Federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit payments made by LWC, approximately $1.08 million (0.013%) was paid to 374 individuals after they died. Of that amount, $629,091 in payments could not have been prevented, $337,007 of the payments should have been prevented by LWC’s current controls, and $123,194 could have been prevented if LWC conducted a weekly match with the Louisiana...

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging David Godin, a/k/a “James St Patrick,” a/k/a “David Wetty,” a/k/a “Vic Pro” for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme to defraud the Maryland Department of Labor (“MD-DOL”) and California Employment Development Department (CA-EDD”) of unemployment insurance (“UI”) benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The objectives of this audit were to (1) assess the sufficiency of selected Unemployment Insurance Agency practices for worker onboarding and offboarding during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to provide information on the administrative funding available to the Unemployment Insurance Agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and other relevant data. We found that the practices were not sufficient.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the New York Department of Labor (Department) has taken appropriate steps to oversee and manage the Unemployment Insurance system and to comply with selected portions of the New York State Information Security Policy and Standards. Overall, we found deficiencies with the Department's oversight and management of its Unemployment Insurance system that ultimately compromised its ability to effectively mitigate risks related to the processing of claims.

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.

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.