A woman from Jackson County, Alabama, was sentenced by a judge in Chattanooga on Wednesday for her role in a COVID unemployment insurance fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ reports that 29-year-old Randa Allison was sentenced to 14 months in prison after being found guilty of mail fraud related to a scheme aimed at defrauding COVID-19 unemployment programs across several states.
Under a plea agreement filed with the court, Allison admitted guilt to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud.
Court documents reveal that from June 2020 to June 2021, Allison conspired with others to orchestrate a scheme to defraud the U.S. government and the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and California by illicitly obtaining funds from the states’ COVID relief programs in the form of unemployment insurance.
According to the DOJ, Allison obtained personal information from individuals and used it to fraudulently submit numerous online applications for funds designated by the states to provide unemployment insurance relief for those affected by the pandemic.
She falsely asserted in the applications that the individuals listed actually worked in those states.
The states then mailed debit cards to addresses in the Eastern District of Tennessee, where Allison would receive a portion of the fraudulent claim’s payout.
The DOJ states that Allison was directly responsible for the fraudulent distribution of over $120,000 in unemployment protection insurance funds.
The scheme itself involved the fraudulent distribution of over $550,000 in unemployment protection insurance funds, according to the DOJ.
Upon completion of her prison term, Allison will be subjected to five years of supervised release.
Additionally, she has been ordered to pay $120,025 in restitution to the Pennsylvania and Alabama Departments of Labor and to forfeit $100,225 to the United States as part of a money judgment.
