DETROIT (WWJ) – A state employee and two other women have been charged in a criminal complaint for allegedly defrauding the state of more than $1.5 million in an unemployment insurance fraud scheme.
U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison announced Wednesday that 47-year-old Antonia Brown of Detroit, 32-year-old Kiannia Mitchel of Romulus and 47-year-old Angela Johnson are all facing charges in the scheme, which was “aimed at defrauding the State of Michigan and the U.S. Government of funds earmarked for unemployment assistance during the COVID19 pandemic.”
Officials say Brown worked for the state of Michigan as an Unemployment Insurance Examiner, assigned to the Benefit Payment Control Unit. Part of her duties included reviewing, approving and adjudicating various Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Unemployment Insurance Assistance (UIA) claims.
The attorney’s office says starting in March 2020, Mitchel and Brown allegedly fraudulently filed and/or accessed more than 123 PUA claims, which led to the disbursement of about $1.6 million in federal funds that were earmarked for PUA and UIA benefits.
Brown is accused of acting outside the scope of her authority by electronically accessing, altering and approving more than 100 of those fraudulent claims, which were all associated with Johnson and Mitchel’s addresses.
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Mitchel and Johnson are alleged to have received money from third parties to assist them with the claims and paid Brown for her assistance in processing the fraudulent claims, according to the attorney’s office.
A complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Trial cannot be held on felony charges in a complaint. When the investigation is completed, a determination will be made whether to seek a felony indictment.
State officials said earlier this year that 18 people had been suspended or fired from the UIA over alleged criminal actions during the pandemic.
