11 Michigan fraud suspects charged in $4.5 million unemployment scheme
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced criminal charges against 11 southeast Michigan residents accused of fraudulently obtaining $4.5 million in unemployment benefits intended for COVID-19 pandemic relief.
Court documents show the group of 20-somethings is accused of working together to acquire “names, Social Security numbers and other personal identifying information of others without the individual’s knowledge or consent.”
The group would then use the information to submit fraudulent unemployment claims in multiple states, according to U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison's Office.
Related: Michigan adds a legal adviser to help pursue unemployment insurance 'bad actors'
Once the claims were approved, the funds would either be wired into a bank account controlled by one of the fraudsters or loaded onto a debit card supplied by the unemployment agency and mailed to an address of one of the conspirators, according to court documents.
The team of suspected schemers would then go withdraw the money by traveling to ATM machines —oftentimes together — or transferring the funds “for their own benefit and the benefit of their co-conspirators," federal prosecutors allege in court filings.
“My office won’t cease our efforts to hold accountable those who used a global pandemic to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers” said Ison in a Tuesday news release.
More: New survey: Detroit's jobless rate is nearly 4x what government reports
Court documents indicate the suspects kept a group chat that contained over 2,000 text messages detailing information about the scheme, including statements about when the debit cards would arrive, who would pick the debit cards up and make the withdrawals, when the withdrawals would happen and how much money should be withdrawn within a given day.
The 23-count indictment charged the following suspects with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft: Marcellus Dunham, 23, of Redford; Daveontae White, 24, of West Bloomfield; Armani Haller, 22, of Clinton Township; Jaylin Qualls, 23, of Harper Woods; Cheikh Sene, 23, of Southfield; Deleonte Rogers, 23, of Westland; Detroit residents Day`on Holt, 22; Daniel Holt, 21; Aaniya Carroll, 22; Laron Stroud, 23, and Jaylin Davis, 22.
They each face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, and two years for aggravated identity theft, if convicted.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 11 Michigan fraud suspects charged in $4.5M unemployment scheme
