State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Today State Auditor Shad White announced his office has been conducting a detailed investigation into unemployment compensation fraud called Operation Payback and has secured their first indictment associated with the operation.
“My office found that during COVID, Mississippi handed out over half a billion dollars in illegal unemployment compensation payments,” said White. “It’s tragic to think about what that money could have gone to instead. And much of it went to out-of-state fraudsters that we’ll never catch. But for the criminals who can be identified, we’re going to drop the hammer.”
Operation Payback is different from most other investigations in the State Auditor’s office because of a unique data analytics tool that auditors used. With advanced machine learning, auditors were able to track some of the misspent unemployment funds and identify suspicious activity.
“For example, advanced software tools combed millions of unemployment compensation payments and identified perpetrators who may have close associations,” said White. “When we dug into these, it was obvious some had conspired to defraud the system.”
On May 15th, Kenjarell Thomas was served with a 59 count indictment. That includes 19 counts of identity theft, 20 counts of fraudulent representation to defraud the government, and 20 counts of wire fraud. Thomas was in prison while allegedly applying for unemployment benefits using multiple other prisoners personal information and using his mother’s address to receive the payments.
All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online at any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or calling 1-(800)-321-1275 during normal business hours.
27 comments:
I applaud the Auditors efforts but, the horse is already out of the gate. Very little of this money can ever be recovered and prosecution plus incarceration is just throwing good money after bad.
A more admiral effort would be to immediately review all current recipients of unemployment funds and disability claims within the Auditors jurisdiction. Plus, putting the City of Jackson under a microscope.
WooHoo! Expand the Capitol Police force! Go Shad!
"But when are they gonna arrest Pheeeyull!"""
Went ahead and did that one for y'all.
Operation self promotion
Thank Gawd Shad is investigating The Mississippi Dept. of Employment Security.
Their attitude in any crisis, was "pay everyone and we'll sort it out later ".
I know, as I worked there a few years.
The upper echelons seemed to be more concerned with avoiding bad press than preventing fraud.
But that Agency did have a great fraud prevention unit.
However,they were always understaffed.
Great! Now breakup the Rankin County syndicate. The ex-Pearl police chief is raking in his PERS checks every month which are enhanced by his no show job with the Rankin county tax assessor, along with the ex-mayor of Richland. Those two are waiting on silver platter. The sheriff along with countless others having been working together to enrich themselves at the expense of the people of Ranking county.
Shad is gutless, remember this when he ask for your vote next election cycle.
One of the fraudsters was an inmate who was receiving unemployment benefits. He was in jail for murder. You can't make this stuff up.
this is nothing but welfare. people lived through the great depression without government handouts.
just think , if this money had not been handed out , you would not have this problem in the first place.
95%of government hand outs are procured by fraud.
think about it
“Operation Payback”? Who exactly is getting paid back? The employers were the ones being defrauded. Are the employers getting paid back?
This would not have been possible without ineptitude at the state government level. Small businesses in Mississippi paid the price for this ineptitude. Investigate why unemployment claims were being approved without the proper notification to employers and due process for allowing employers to contest these fraudulent claims.
Without getting buried in the details, unemployment operates as an insurance policy for which employers pay the premium. An employer pays this “premium” as a percentage of that employer’s payroll. The rate that an employer pays is determined by how many past claims are awarded against that employer. Small changes in this “experience rating” can quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s a good system when operated properly. It creates a disincentive for employers to lay people off without good cause. When employees are fired for just cause or quit, and file for unemployment, employers can object to the filing and avoid the costly increase to their experience rating. However, when the unemployment office begins granting unemployment to anyone with a pulse without proper notification to employers, schemes like this prison scheme are allowed to perpetuate and the cost to employers is immense. Many small businesses in Mississippi are still being punished for that ineptitude. It’s criminal, and it has cost millions to small business owners out there trying to survive like the rest of us.
“95% of government hand outs are procured by fraud.”
Prove it.
So wrong, 9:57. See WPA, CCC, FSA, and other programs during the Depression. Also, prove that 95% claim or quit making up "facts."
And we get to all pay for all of these wasteful trillions from 2020 and 2021 via inflation and devaluation of the dollar, and the buffoons in DC still won’t stop spending.
"Thomas was in prison while allegedly applying for unemployment benefits using multiple other prisoners personal information and using his mother’s address to receive the payments."
Let's not let this detail get buried...In Prison and still defrauding the state? MDOC doesn't monitor online activity?
to 6:30........''prove it''.........well start by reading this indictment......cause its going to get proven in court.
you really got your head in the sand
Why are you afraid of jackson, shad?
If other state agencies know what jackson has been doing for 30 years, why don't you?
Your actions denote cowardice.
The question remains, why?
Operation Self-Promotion is right. He's great at catching the little fish but where's the big fish? I guess those are too close to home.
What part of state law does not allow him to investigate municipalities on his own do you not get?????
He can't just up and investigate Jackson because he feels like it or suspects something. If someone files a specific complaint, different story. SO if you know something or have evidence of something, go file the complaint.
The American public is so desensitized from corruption that they complain when someone tries to stop it. Washington is a broken city, we are so used to it being broken that if someone comes in and tries to change it for the better, they are called a threat to democracy. The worst part? Most believe that we will see top political figures be prosecuted for any crime or fraud will be really disappointed. The best thing to do is try to go live your life, pay the taxes they say and don't worry about things you can't change.
As evidenced by the comments here, we have a real antipathy to smart people in our state. Even the smart people we elect have to act a little dumb sometimes to stay in the good graces of the masses.
We're lucky to have Shad and need more like him. Y'all should take a look at the parameters of his job and what he's allowed to do. That would probably require turning off Rogan for a minute though.
Tip of the fraud iceberg
The backbone of Mississippi’s economy is folks committing fraud to get welfare, unemployment, disability and medical insurance through Medicaid and Medicare.
Operation Payback pays off in free publicity for the State Auditor?
He's another Stacey Pickering!
to 6:36....anyone that got a paycheck from the CCC or the WPA back during the depression put in a full days work,,,,,,it wasn't just handed to em.
quite unlike this welfare program.
11;46 gets it right
i started reading this indictment.
at count 19 of 57 i grew tired and quit,,,,,by court 19 i had totaled about 18000 $.
and this guy did this while in the hinds county detention center on a murder charge.
take a moment and think about that.
what sort of morons are running these welfare - handout , no questions asked ,programs?
i can guarantee no state or federal employee will be fired or disciplined over this.
thats why everyone wants to work for the government cause you have no liability no matter how bad you screw it up.
How did this inmate get paid?
Did he get checks at the detention center by mail that he somehow deposited?
Or was he doing online banking with his smartphone?
Or does he have a really large balance in his commissary account?
How does this work?
8:48am, drives me up the wall, too, not unlike the countless times the uninformed had to be schooled that a victim of aggravated domestic violence cannot ‘drop the charges.’
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