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Law360 (May 18, 2021, 7:13 PM EDT) -- New York federal prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled charges accusing eight Brooklyn residents of stealing $2 million in unemployment benefits, including COVID-19 relief funds, with some of the accused allegedly posting photos of their ill-gotten government cash on social media.
A criminal complaint accuses Bryan Abraham, Carlos Vasquez, Angel Cabrera, Armani Miller, Johan Santos, Gianni Stewart, Andre Ruddock and Seth Golding of illegally using victims' personal identifying information, such as Social Security numbers and birthdays, to file hundreds of fake unemployment insurance claims between June and April.
All eight men were charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud in connection with the alleged scheme, prosecutors said. Abraham, Vasquez, Cabrera, Stewart, Ruddock and Golding were arrested Tuesday morning, and each was arraigned and released on a $75,000 bond Tuesday afternoon, a representative from the prosecutor's office told Law360. Miller and Santos remain at large, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said the scheme bilked a total of $2 million in state and federal unemployment insurance payments, including supplemental Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
"There is never an excuse to knowingly commit fraud and steal from a system that was designed to help New Yorkers in a time of need," said state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon "However, it's even more despicable when these thieves steal a lifeline from New Yorkers in the midst of a public health pandemic."
According to the complaint, investigators discovered that unemployment benefits issued in the names of others had been deposited into the defendants' bank accounts, and that these claims listed the defendants' home addresses and phone numbers.
The defendants were also caught on security cameras making cash withdrawals from banks in Brooklyn and Queens using KeyBank debit cards issued by the state's DOL in others' names, according to the complaint. These fraudulent debit cards were found in the defendants' possession, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors said Vasquez, Cabrera, Stewart and Golding documented their alleged crimes on social media by posting public pictures that show them "holding and fanning out what appears to be large stacks of U.S. currency."
"As alleged, the defendants not only fraudulently obtained $2 million in pandemic-related unemployment benefits using information from third-party victims, they audaciously displayed the proceeds of their fraud — large amounts of stolen cash — on social media," said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Mark J. Lesko.
Counsel for Abraham declined to comment on the charges Tuesday. Counsel for Vasquez, Stewart and Cabrera did not respond to requests for comment, and counsel for Ruddock and Golding could not be immediately reached.
The government is represented by Tara McGrath and Brendan G. King of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Abraham is represented by Benjamin Zev Yaster of Federal Defenders of New York Inc.
Vasquez is represented by Charles Alvarez.
Cabrera is represented by David Kirby.
Stewart is represented by Lisa Scolari.
Ruddock is represented by Carlos Santiago.
Golding is represented by Michael Gold.
The case is USA v. Abraham et al., case number 1:21-mj-00593, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
