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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced today that on November 19, 2025 REHA JANEE ARVIE, ( “ARVIE”), age 35, of Westwego, LA, was sentenced for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349.

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Temitope Bashua, 29, a citizen of Nigeria, to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy and scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. According to his plea agreement, and other court documents, from May 2020 through September 2022, Bashua and others conspired to impersonate victims to obtain money by submitting fraudulent UI benefits claims.

A federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment today against Anthony Mark Silva, 40, of Manchester, New Hampshire, charging him with nine counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

A Seaside, Oregon, woman pleaded guilty today to stealing more than $567,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits from the Oregon Employment Department (OED).

Baltimore, Maryland – Duane Watts, 46, and Donna Jones, 59, both of Baltimore, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft in connection with an unemployment insurance (UI) fraud scheme. Watts and Jones, along with their co-conspirators, used the UI benefits, which were designated to assist unemployed or underemployed persons due to the COVID-19 national emergency, for their own personal enrichment.

A Texas woman pleaded guilty today to fraudulently obtaining more than $28,000 in federal disaster relief money by falsely claiming that she was a Pasadena resident living in a property damaged by the Eaton Fire and to fraudulently obtaining more than $54,000 in jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Greenbelt, Maryland – Terry Chen, 25, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with submitting fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance (UI) claims.

BOSTON – The founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the local nonprofit Violence in Boston (VIB) pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to making misrepresentations in order to obtain thousands of dollars in donations to non-profit Violence in Boston (VIB) that she then diverted to pay for personal expenses, defrauding the City of Boston out of COVID-19 relief funds and rental assistance money, defrauding the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office out of Community Reinvestment Grant funds, filing false tax return for two years, and failing to file tax returns for two years.

Baltimore, Maryland – Natonia Johnson, 52, of Baltimore, Maryland, pled guilty today, to one count of wire fraud in connection with a bribery scheme that she conducted as a Maryland Department of Labor (MD-DOL) contractor to issue fraudulent unemployment insurance funds. Johnson assisted friends, family members, and strangers with fraudulently filing and obtaining UI benefits they were not eligible to receive in exchange for bribes and kickback payments.