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Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the results achieved by the Middle District of Florida’s efforts to combat fraud related to COVID-19. Those efforts have included complementary actions by the United States Attorney’s Office’s (USAO-MDFL) Criminal, Asset Recovery, Appellate, and Civil Divisions, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

James McAuliffe filed false claims for UI benefits using others’ personal identifying information without their knowledge and consent. He was sentenced to.60 months and ordered to pay $203,616 in restitution.

Makiah Miles, 30, of Compton, and Apryl Weston, 51, of Santa Maria, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit mail fraud for submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) in the names of inmates.

NEWARK N.J. – A New York man was indicted today for conspiring to illegally obtain over $444,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

OLAJUWON HARRINGTON, also known as “OJ Harrington,” 31, of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for his theft of pandemic unemployment benefits.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – An indictment was unsealed after a California man was arrested and is scheduled to appear in a Salt Lake City federal courthouse. The eight count indictment charges the defendant for unlawfully collecting unemployment insurance during COVID-19 from California while living and working in Utah. He also allegedly assisted others in committing the same acts for a cut of their unemployment insurance funds administered under the CARES Act.

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.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging six individuals for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance (“UI”) claims. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“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 indictment was returned on October 24, 2023, and unsealed today upon the arrests of several defendants.

U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson sentenced Dementrous Von Smith, a/k/a “Meecho” and “El Meecho,” age 36, of Waldorf, Maryland, to 53 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in relation to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance claims in Maryland, California and Arizona totaling at least $1.5 million.

Austin Martin Siampwizi, who laundered money procured from fraudulent unemployment claims filed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering conspiracy.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Maryland man was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for illegally obtaining more than $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Terence Aubrey Larker, 37, of Las Vegas, previously of Sacramento, was sentenced Tuesday to four years and 10 months in prison for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in a scheme to defraud the Unemployment Insurance benefit program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ronald House, who applied for unemployment insurance in his name and the names of others in multiple states during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge.

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.

Federal inmates Jason Haddox, age 40, and Jonathan Henry, age 32, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and Henry also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“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 federal CARES Act created new federal unemployment compensation (UC) programs including Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, increasing the weekly benefit amount, and expanding eligibility to claimants not otherwise eligible for unemployment benefits. From March 15, 2020, through June 30, 2022, the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) paid $39.9 billion in UC claims from 5.8 million claims created for 3.48 claimants. This audit report is the fourth of a series of five audit reports on UIA claims...

From March 2020 through June 2021, the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) workforce increased from 754 to a monthly high of 4,410 in April 2021. UIA expended $171.7 million through June 2021 for the additional staffing resources. During this period, UIA processed 5.2 million UI claims and paid over $36.5 billion in UI benefits. The objectives for this audit were to assess the sufficiency of selected UIA practices for workers onboarding and offboarding during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide information on the administrative funding available to UIA during the COVID-19 pandemic and other...

Jeremy Graves has been sentenced for theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft for stealing identities to file fraudulent Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SAN DIEGO – Eduard Ghiocel and his wife, Floarea Ghiocel, were sentenced in federal court today to 36 months and 30 months, respectively, for laundering $1.4 million in proceeds from dozens of grand thefts, robberies and swindles targeting mostly elderly victims in San Diego County.

NEWARK N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man admitted that he conspired to illegally obtain over $400,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

NEWARK N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man admitted that he conspired to illegally obtain over $400,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

BOSTON – Former Massachusetts State Senator Dean Tran was arrested today and charged in federal court in Boston with allegedly scheming to defraud the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and collecting income that he failed to report to the IRS.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security (DES) limited improper payments to less than 10 percent of paid claims as required by the U.S. Department of Labor, and if not to identify the impact and causes of improper payments. DES reported that the improper unemployment insurance payment rate averaged 18 percent during the period of April 1, 2016, through March 31, 2021. The Auditor noted that DES management should implement U.S. Department of Labor recommendations, best practices, and strategies to limit DES’s improper...

NEWARK N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, woman was arrested on charges that she fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and unemployment insurance benefits totaling $694,212.

NEWARK N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, woman was arrested on charges that she fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and unemployment insurance benefits totaling $694,212.

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.

Jackson, Miss. – A Texas man pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining more than $400,000 in COVID-19 economic assistance loans.

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.

A former bank branch manager in Kansas City, Mo., has pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting Kansas City Chiefs playoffs tickets and a new Chevrolet Tahoe in exchange for facilitating a $12.4 million Covid fraud scheme by a Jefferson City, Mo., business owner, as well as a separate fraud scheme to receive unemployment benefits.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Passaic County, New Jersey, attorney today admitted that he illegally obtained more than $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.

BOSTON – Two Nigerian men were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for their roles in an expansive money laundering and bank fraud scheme that resulted in millions in losses from pandemic fraud, romance scams and other online scams.

A Glendale man was sentenced today to 78 months in federal prison for laundering at least $3 million in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that his accomplices fraudulently obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We found that a full-time NPS employee wrongfully obtained State unemployment insurance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

A convicted felon from Orange County who used social media to instruct his Instagram followers on how to defraud banks was sentenced today to 90 months in federal prison for conspiring with a bank employee and others to commit a check fraud scheme in which they sought $1.2 million.

A St. Joseph, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court today for using the stolen identities of prison inmates to fraudulently obtain federal unemployment benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

A Riverside County man was sentenced today to 68 months in federal prison for orchestrating a scheme to obtain more than $2.1 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by filing fraudulent applications claiming, among other things, that the claimants were salon and barbershop workers rendered jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nigerian nationals Quazeem Owolabi Adeyinka, 22, and Ayodeji Jonathan Sangode, 25, currently both residing in Maryland, were sentenced today to 26 months and 14 months in prison respectively for their roles a fraud conspiracy during the COVID-19 pandemic,