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Tacoma – A former employee of Washington State’s Employment Security Department pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three federal felonies for his scheme to exploit his employment for personal enrichment and to fraudulently distribute at least $360,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Seattle – A 28-year-old New York City man was indicted this week in the Western District of Washington for three counts of bank fraud related to his abuse of the COVID-19 Pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma - A former Port Angeles, Washington, naturopathic physician was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 8 months in prison and one year of supervised release for a federal felony related to his misbranding, and sale in interstate commerce, of products he claimed could prevent and treat numerous serious diseases, including COVID-19 and MRSA, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas W. Brown.

Seattle – A Redmond, Washington, man who held himself out as a biotech expert was sentenced today in federal court for introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Seattle – A former Seattle doctor was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 4 years in prison for fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

On October 27, 2020, the Employment Security Department (ESD) notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds, as required by state law. Our investigation determined a misappropriation of unemployment insurance benefit funds occurred at ESD, totaling $315,282, and that ESD made an additional $121,503 in questionable payments related to this situation between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. ESD also referred the case to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

A federal jury convicted a Seattle doctor yesterday of fraudulently seeking over $3.5 million and obtaining over $2.8 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) COVID-19 relief funds.

Seattle – A Seattle area pair was indicted today in the Western District of Washington, for more than $1 million in fraud on COVID-19 relief programs, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Tacoma – A former employee of Washington State’s Employment Security Department has been charged in a 20-count indictment for his scheme to exploit his employment for personal enrichment and to fraudulently distribute at least $360,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

A Washington state tech executive was sentenced today in the Western District of Washington to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Seattle – A Washington State man was sentenced today to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief

A Washington State man was sentenced today to two years in prison for perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic had wide-ranging impacts within King County. County leaders and staff worked hard to shift practices to meet the needs of the changing environment. Our analysis and survey results indicate that employee experience and confidence in safety measures varied across the county, potentially indicating increased exposure risk for some employees.

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the use of Public Health Emergency Leave aligned with Port policy. In order to achieve this objective, Internal Audit utilized a risk-based approach, selected a sample of individuals who took Public Health Emergency Leave.

This report is the second in a series of savings-focused best practice reviews to be conducted by the Auditor’s Office. We conducted this analysis to illustrate some of the potential furlough options policymakers have when making decisions about how to reduce the County’s costs. Individual departments could also implement these types of furlough structures for their employees. We are not making recommendations at this time.

State management is responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining internal controls to ensure the financial statements are fairly presented, and to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and to prevent and detect fraud. We identified deficiencies in internal controls at the Employment Security Department (ESD) that adversely affected the State’s ability to prevent and detect fraud.

This report contains the results of our investigation of the illegitimate unemployment claims and payments at the Department from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The purpose of our investigation was to determine if a misappropriation had occurred and to provide the Department with recommendations to improve internal controls.

The novel coronavirus quickly became a global pandemic in 2020. In March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act to help provide support for those affected by the pandemic. Washington’s Employment Security Department administers the state’s unemployment compensation program. From early in the pandemic, news organizations reported on customer service delays and fraud in Washington’s Unemployment Insurance program. Th is audit examines the scope of and reasons behind substantial fraud and customer service delays in the state’s unemployment benefits program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on our risk assessment for the years ended June 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018, the areas examined were those representing the highest risk of fraud, loss, abuse, or noncompliance. We examined the following areas during this audit period. Accounts payable – general disbursements and electronic funds transfers, Payroll – gross wages and overtime, Paid family and medical leave – billing and compliance with eligibility, Procurement – information technology contracts and change orders.

This report describes the overall results and conclusions for the areas we examined related to the Unemployment Tax and Benefits (UTAB) system’s application and general information technology (IT) controls. In most of the areas we examined, controls were not adequately designed and implemented to provide reasonable assurance of complete, accurate, secure and available data.

In accordance with Revised Code of Washington 43.88.027, the Office of Financial Management has prepared this Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) of the state of Washington for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Seattle – A Nigerian citizen arrested May 14, 2021 at JFK Airport in New York, is now indicted for conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman

Seattle – A Nigerian citizen was arrested Friday evening at JFK Airport in New York on a criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Seattle — A respiratory therapist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Seattle was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three months in prison and nine months of home confinement for theft of government property, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

Seattle – A Washington tech executive pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his scheme to obtain over $5.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and laundering the proceeds, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman for the Western District of Washington.

Seattle - A Redmond, Washington, man who held himself out as a biotech expert was arrested today on a federal warrant charging him with introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

This report is a review of risks and possible mitigation strategies related to remote work decisions. The office has not yet completed its assessment of the County’s transitions to remote work and are not yet making recommendations because of the evolving nature of these decisions. However, when the office’s assessment is complete, it will use the information in this document as a starting point for making recommendations in the future.