Texas Woman Pleads Guilty to Unemployment Fraud Related to COVID-19 Pandemic (November 8, 2021)
Summary
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts dated Monday, November 8, 2021. It states that Donna Wasson, 37, of San Antonio, Texas, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in a scheme to fraudulently claim COVID-19-related unemployment assistance, and that U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for March 8, 2022. According to the release, Wasson applied for Massachusetts unemployment benefits while residing in Texas and receiving benefits there, carried out instructions on other fraudulent claims from a former Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance employee, and accessed claims under multiple stolen identities. Wasson was indicted on May 27, 2021.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Texas Woman Pleads Guilty to Unemployment Fraud Related to COVID-19 Pandemic (November 8, 2021).”
Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2021-11-12-texas-woman-pleads-guilty-to-unemployment-fraud-related-to-3246532edd/
, SHA-256 83a94e622708fc0da0872ea19b659bc71e74f810c85cfc1087ad906515b5681f.Full text
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Massachusetts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 8, 2021
Texas Woman Pleads Guilty to Unemployment Fraud
Related to COVID-19 Pandemic
BOSTON – A Texas woman pleaded guilty today to her involvement in a scheme to fraudulently
claim COVID-19-related unemployment assistance.
Donna Wasson, 37, of San Antonio, Texas, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. U.S. District
Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for March 8, 2022. Wasson was indicted
on May 27, 2021.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) created a temporary federal
unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA,
administered by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, provides
unemployment insurance benefits for individuals who are not eligible for other types of
unemployment benefits (e.g., the self-employed, independent contractors, or gig economy workers).
Wasson applied for Massachusetts unemployment benefits despite residing in Texas and receiving
unemployment benefits via the Texas Workplace Commission. In addition, Wasson carried out
instructions concerning other fraudulent unemployment claims from a former Massachusetts
Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) employee, and accessed unemployment claims
under multiple stolen identities to fraudulently obtain benefits to which she was not entitled.
The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of
supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for
a sentence of up to two years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
and other statutory factors.
The investigation is being conducted by Homeland Security’s Investigation’s Document and Benefit
Fraud Task Force (DBFTF), a specialized field investigative group comprised of personnel from
various local, state, and federal agencies with expertise in detecting, deterring, and disrupting
organizations and individuals involved in various types of document, identity, and benefit fraud
schemes.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge
of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of
the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering and Fraud
Investigations made the announcement today. Special assistance was provided by the Massachusetts
Department of Unemployment Assistance, Program Integrity Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys William
Abely, Chief of Mendell’s Criminal Division, and Dustin Chao, Chief of Mendell’s Public Corruption &
Special Prosecutions Unit, are prosecuting the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to
marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government
to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to
investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists
agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods,
augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information
and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s
response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by
calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-
5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-
disaster-complaint-form.
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Massachusetts
Updated November 8, 2021
File and source
- File
- 2021-11-12-Texas-Woman-Pleads-Guilty-to-Unemployment-Fraud-Related-to-COVID-19-Pandemic-USAO-D-MA-11-08-2021.pdf
- Size
- 89,601 bytes
- SHA-256
- 83a94e622708fc0da0872ea19b659bc71e74f810c85cfc1087ad906515b5681f
- Original
- No public link identified.