Search

Expansion of unemployment programs and the easing of some eligibility requirements under the CARES Act have led to increased fraud – especially identity theft. Some people who would not have normally been eligible to receive regular unemployment benefits became eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). In addition, U.S. Department of Labor rules allowed people to receive benefits prior to their filing claims.

A South Bay man who provided lifestyle and personal development coaching to students in public schools through a non-profit he founded was arrested today on an indictment alleging he and his accomplices fraudulently applied for millions of dollars in COVID-19 jobless benefits, including by using stolen identities.

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.

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 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,

A San Fernando Valley man who was the leader of a conspiracy that stole more than $800,000 in COVID-19 jobless benefits has been sentenced to over eight years in federal prison.

Quinten Giovanni Moody, aka Christano Rossi, 39, of Dublin, was sentenced today to seven years in prison for aggravated identity theft, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Telvin Breaux, 32, an inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges for leading a $25 million fraud against the California Employment Development Department (EDD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three of Breaux’s co-defendants, Fantasia Brown, 35, of Los Angeles, Shanice White, 29, of Hawthorne, and Holly White, 33, of Los Angeles, also pleaded guilty for their roles in the fraud.

The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions – including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants – for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud.