Due to his involvement in a multi-state, multi-million dollar unemployment insurance fraud scam that affected three states—Michigan, Maryland, and Pennsylvania—a man from Pennsylvania has been sentenced to more than four years in jail.
Adrian Fluellen, 29, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is accused of participating in a scam that robbed the federal government and those three states of money intended for unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison.
According to Ison’s office, he and his co-defendant used the money to purchase narcotics, jewelry, a car, and a pistol.
United States District Judge Matthew F. Leitman sentenced Fluellen to 51 months in prison and directed him to pay almost $900,000 in reparations.
According to Ison’s office, Fluellen entered a guilty plea to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in February.
The government and the states were duped out of approximately $1 million by Fluellen and a co-defendant, whose identity was withheld, “intended to support individuals who had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
According to the authorities, the two stole social security numbers and other personal information belonging to other people by using interstate worse.
Without the individuals’ knowledge or agreement, they utilized that information to submit hundreds of fraudulent unemployment claims in their names to state unemployment insurance offices in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, according to the attorney’s office.
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Following that, the defendants received hundreds of Bank of America prepaid debit cards in the names of those individuals, filled at addresses in Pennsylvania and Michigan with about $1 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance monies.
Then, according to Ison’s office, Fluellen, his co-defendant, and their cronies “successfully unloaded more than $930,000 from the cards via cash withdrawals and purchases that included jewelry, drugs, at least one vehicle, and at least one firearm.”
If the co-defendant has been charged or sentenced in this case, it has not been disclosed by the officials.
“Taxpayer unemployment assistance funds diverted to the pockets of criminals during the pandemic resulted in less money and fewer resources being available for those genuinely in need at that challenging time” Ison stated. “Along with our law enforcement partners, our office will continue to work to hold individuals who have committed and are committing such crimes of fraud, greed, and avarice responsible.”
