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Five defendants – including a California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatcher and her convicted-felon husband – have been taken into federal custody on a 10-count indictment alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $3.3 million in COVID-19 government unemployment benefits using stolen identities and personal identifiable information, the Justice Department announced today.

A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment last week against Akash Kumar Singh, 48, of Sacramento, charging him with four counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering.

FEROZ JALAL participated in a scheme to defraud banks and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

HONOLULU – Acting United States Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson announced that Martin Kao, 51, of Honolulu, was sentenced today in federal court by Senior United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi to 87 months imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised released for COVID-relief wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud.

Christopher Lee Carroll was also ordered to pay restitution of $3 million.

Patrick Strauss, 54, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 48 months of probation – including six months of home confinement to be followed by a period of intermittent incarceration, that is, 26 weekends in jail – and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $304,900 and fined $8,784, all for participating in a conspiracy that fraudulently obtained more than $304,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced Victor Ojo, 30, of Belcamp, Maryland, to 72 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Victor Ojo received the sentence for aggravated identity theft and his role in an attempted bank-fraud scheme that had an intended loss amount of $1.5 million.

CINCINNATI – Joseph Lentine III, 55, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 63 months in prison for orchestrating a COVID-19 relief fraud scheme involving millions of dollars.

A former employee of the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state’s unemployment insurance program, pleaded guilty this afternoon to fraudulently obtaining more than $750,000 in COVID jobless relief.