Reports

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...

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.

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 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.

The COVID-19 Pandemic presented the Department with many challenges and obstacles including a sharp increase in the volume of unemployment claims as well as the expansion of regular unemployment benefits by the federal government. The Department did not have the man-power or technology resources to adequately deal with this drastic increase in claim activity and the addition of new federal unemployment funding. The Department’s legacy unemployment System, Ohio Job Insurance (OJI), has been in place since 2004. Due to its age and functionality, it was unable to handle the increased volume of...

This audit report is the fifth and final in a series of audit reports on Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) claims processing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies that Michigan's UIA did not accurately assess fraud penalties on claims when it determined intentional misrepresentation occurred, and estimates the agency undercalculated penalties on these claims by nearly 50 percent.

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.

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment adding two new defendants to the nine defendants previously charged in relation to a Maryland and California unemployment insurance scheme. The superseding indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and stealing a post office key. The superseding indictment was returned on November 30, 2022.