The Department of Justice (DOJ) just announced a coordinated arrest by law enforcement agencies of a mother and son who allegedly ran a Covid-fraud scheme targeting the California Employment Development Department (EDD).
In a statement from U.S. Attorney Eric Grant 49-year-old Yolanda Butler was arrested in Oklahoma while her son, 28-year-old Legerrius Holt was arrested in Colorado.
[adinserter block="1"]A third defendant, 33-year-old Quamaine Massey was also arrested in Ohio.
All three defendants were charged with mail fraud while Butler and Holt were additionally charged with aggrevated identity theft.
According to the DOJ, the defendants were able to obtain the personally identifiable information (PII) of “dozens” of people and filed at least 69 different unemployment insurance benefit claims under those identities.
The EDD in California approved many of the applications and the defendants received money in the form of prepaid debit cards in the mail to addresses under their control.
Once they received the debit cards, the defendants allegedly spent the money for their own personal expenses, racking up $1.1 million in losses for the US government. It’s not clear exactly what the alleged fraudsters spent the money on.
If convicted, each person charged faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for mail fraud while Butler and Holt face an additional sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.
In the years following Covid, massive amounts of fraud continue to be uncovered. In August, the Feds announced the conclusion of an investigation of a $17 million fraud operation that targeted Covid-relief programs.
And in the same month, the DOJ convicted 34-year-old Malcolm Jeffery and his co-conspirators of stealing $16 million from the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) that was originally meant to cover unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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