The Justice Department issued the following statement.
Judith Ann Middleton, 70, of Ridgeland, Mississippi, was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with multiple violations of federal law involving unemployment insurance benefits fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and U.S. Secret Service Resident Agent in Charge Shawn Wolfe.
In May 2020, it was discovered that unemployment insurance benefits from the State of Washington had been deposited into Middleton’s account. Investigation into these benefits revealed that they were deposited under other individuals’ names. The unemployment insurance benefits were federally subsidized through the CARES Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency, and Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) into law in response to the pandemic to aid those financially affected by the outbreak. This aid included $600 of federal unemployment compensation benefits in addition to those provided by the states.
“Those who blatantly steal taxpayer money by defrauding government programs during a national emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic will soon find themselves standing in a federal court to answer for their crimes. This type of fraud particularly hurts the unemployed, but also our government, our economy, and all Americans. We will continue working with our federal, state and local partners to root out this fraud and protect the public from further financial harm,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst.
“The United States Secret Service is investigating the release of CARES Act relief payments and associated fraudulent schemes that seek to exploit these funds. We have observed a proliferation and diversification of criminal schemes, particularly an increase in targeting various economic relief programs, such as unemployment benefits, the Payment Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) payments. The Secret Service is collaborating closely with other federal, state, and local agencies, and our financial institution partners to detect, investigate, and bring justice to criminals committing financial fraud related to COVID-19,” said Shawn Wolfe, Resident Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, Jackson Resident Office.
Middleton appeared for arraignment today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball. The case has been set for trial before Senior U.S. District Judge David C. Bramlette III on December 7, 2020. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan M. McCalla is prosecuting the case.
The public is reminded that an indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
11 comments:
I thought this was legal for registered Dems.
While, if guilty, she should be punished and pay back the money, this matter vs. the current status of the Madison Timber scheme seems like there is more hunting of fleas versus elephants.
Maybe it would send the right message if she were publicly flayed.
She's only one of millions.
Unemployment fraud has always been rampant.
(Way before the word covid came into our vocabulary).
I retired from Employment Security . . . we couldn't keep up with all of the fraud in a slow year.
Needs to do @ least 20 years in prison. Serious crime stealing from other out of work peoples.
Someone applied for unemployment in my name. Luckily I am also the employer, so I got notice. I reported fraud same day to state unemployment department, to the people running cares act and to local police. Even after all that, they still sent me a debit card with $835 in the account. It’s been months and the money still there. I obviously won’t touch it, but how hard can it be, when I took hours out of my day to report to all the proper authorities, to have a system to get their money back and get it to people that need it.
I work in a division of the Texas Workforce Commission that is essentially “on loan” to the BPC ID Theft Task Force for the next five years just investigation UBS fraud. Everything from little old ladies like above to extremely complex schemes. If you set a pile of money out there with little or no co trol as to elegibility, you invite fraud on a biblical scale. I talk to dudes with heavy Indian/ MiddlemEastern accents daily who will absolutely claim to be 77 year old retired men. A system designed to be available to W-2 wage earners is simply not designed to account for claims form the “self-employed.”.
The Feds should have just given everyone $2000/month to stimulate the economy instead of involving state UI systems. But, what the hell, it’s just money....we,can print more.
You can bet your ass it's not 'alleged' when UI fraud is announced or prosecuted. They've got the goods on you with substantial, verifiable proof. There's a cadre of UI Fraud Reps at the state agency and the methods of capture are many. However, there are no doubt tens of thousands of fraudsters that will go undetected and unpunished attached to this Covid Payment Fiasco.
Of course the fraud is rampant, just as welfare fraud is. When people can lie and get continued checks, there's always an open gate for fraud. Some get caught...some don't.
And it's not just the claimants. Several decades back an office manager in this state and half the staff were caught setting up fictitious accounts and reaping the cash themselves.
This is small change. Look at the fraud in Bush's adventure in Afghanistan. Billions and billions.
4:47 someone applied for unemployment in my name. I had to report to law enforcement, credit bureaus, MDES.
Never got a response from MDES. Guess they don’t care.
This lady has now become a well known pet sitter, house sitter & personal assistant, all over the NextDoor app. Hide your SS#.
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