COURT DOC: Eight Brooklyn Individuals Charged with Multi-Million Dollar Covid-19 Relief Fraud

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Bryan Abraham, Carlos Vazquez, Angel Cabrera, Armani Miller, Johan Santos, Gianni Stewart, Andre Ruddock and Seth Golding with conspiracy to commit access device fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain millions of dollars in unemployment insurance benefits funded, in whole or in part, by COVID-19 pandemic assistance programs.

As alleged in the complaint, between June 2020 and April 2021, the defendants submitted fraudulent claims to the New York State Department of Labor for unemployment insurance benefits. They used the personal identifying information of third-party victims to fraudulently receive unemployment insurance benefits funded, in whole or in part, by COVID-19 pandemic assistance programs. The defendants scheme allegedly resulted in approximately $2 million in unemployment benefits being distributed to the defendants and others. Cabrera, Golding, Stewart and Vazquez posted photos of themselves on social media in which they were holding and fanning out large sums of cash. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)