NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Three New Yorkers were charged Tuesday with submitting fraudulent CVOID-19 unemployment benefit applications and attempting to steal more than $1.3 million.
Mariluz Fermin, 46, Bellanilda Fermin, 41, and Juan Nolasco, 37, were arrested in Yonkers and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, theft of government benefits an d aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, the Fermin siblings and Nolasco, Bellanilda Fermin's partner, schemed to obtain COVID-19 unemployment benefits by filing and verifying applications using the named and social security numbers of at least 75 other people.
Prosecutors said the three submitted the claims between May 2020 and October 2020, and the New York Department of Labor was alerted to the suspicious activity after metadata revealed the applications were being submitted from the same internet protocol (IP) address.
During that same time, authorities said the IP address was also used to log into several unemployment benefits claims at least 900 times.
A further investigation later revealed the trio would also often exchange text messages that included identifying information – such as names, email accounts and dates of birth – which were used on the fraudulent applications.
Prosecutors said between June 2020 and August 2020, Nolasco was also tracked to several ATM machine in the Bronx, where he allegedly withdrew funds that were issued to the trio as a result of some fraudulent applications being accepted.
According to officials, the scheme filed claims with the NYDOL fore more than $1.3 million and succeeded in stealing at least $687,000.
“As alleged, the defendants, working in concert, fraudulently filed claims for COVID-19 unemployment benefits under the names and social security numbers of at least 75 other people, making off with nearly $700,000 and attempting to steal more than $1.3 million,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “Now all three are in custody and facing serious federal charges.”
If convicted on the top charge, all three could face at least 20 years in prison.
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