Group Accused of Stealing $30 Million in COVID-19 Fraud Scheme Sentenced to Prison
They’re accused of bilking the federal government and the state of Georgia out of $30 million in a fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the Georgia residents are headed to prison and ordered to pay restitution.
According to prosecutors, the group filed more than 5,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims with the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL), resulting in at least $30 million in stolen benefits, in a scheme that ran from March 2020 to November 2022.
To make the scheme work, the group created fake companies and made up lists of employees using personally identifiable information (PII) from thousands of identity theft victims. The PII was obtained from a variety of sources, including by bribing a hospital worker to hand over PII from the hospital database, and buying PII from sources over the internet.
Once the information was obtained, the fraudulent claims were filed and the stolen funds were disbursed via prepaid debit cards mailed to various locations.
“The identity theft victims and unwitting participants were purported employees of several fictitious companies, which were created to execute this fraud scheme. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of the UI system from those who exploit this benefit program,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Mathew Broadhurst of the Southeast Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.
Sentenced were Macovian Doston of Vienna, Georgia to 15 years in prison, Shatara Hubbard of Warner Robins, Georgia to six years in prison, and Torella Wynn of Cordele, Georgia, to one year in prison. Four other co-conspirators were previously sentenced.
“These sentences underline our dedication to holding people accountable who exploit federal relief programs for personal gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Ulrich of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reminds everyone that the DOJ started a COVID-19 fraud enforcement task force in 2021 and that anyone with information about COVID-19 fraud can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline.
