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Essex County Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain More Than $700,000

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey dated March 18, 2022. It announces that Jefferson Robert of Newark was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to 33 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $675,371 in restitution after pleading guilty to an information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the release, Robert opened bank accounts with a fraudulent passport, an application for unemployment benefits was made to the Washington State Employment Security Department in a victim's name, and the conspirators took part in business email and romance scams. The release states that Robert and the conspirators caused more than $700,000 in losses.

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“Essex County Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain More Than $700,000.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2022-03-29-essex-county-man-sentenced-to-33-months-in-prison-for-consp-152137393c/, SHA-256 9b272e8652bbef8270cf35df4e309182d99d3f6130cf35b6ef57567243299e4e.

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                                     Department of Justice
                                       U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                       District of New Jersey


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        Friday, March 18, 2022

   Essex County Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for
   Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain More Than $700,000
NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for
conspiring to fraudulently obtain more than $700,000, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Jefferson Robert, 31, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District
Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud. Judge
Neals imposed the sentence by videoconference today.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed
into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal program unemployment insurance
program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides unemployment
insurance benefits (UIB) for individuals who are not eligible for other types of unemployment (e.g.,
self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new
temporary federal program that provides an additional $600 weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA
and regular UIB. The Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) administers and
manages the regular unemployment and PUA programs in the State of Washington.

Robert opened bank accounts with a fraudulent passport in another individual’s name. He and his
conspirators then caused an application to be made to ESD for UIB in the name of a victim. In
response, ESD caused UIB to be deposited into one of the fraudulent bank accounts. Robert and his
conspirators: partook in business email scams, including causing a victim to transfer approximately
$28,000 into one of the bank accounts; partook in romance scams, including causing a victim to
make five deposits into one of the bank accounts totaling approximately $19,000; and fraudulently
obtained money from the IRS by causing the IRS to transfer payments in four victims’ names into
one of the bank accounts. Once the fraudulently obtained money was in the bank accounts, Roberts
moved the money, including through the purchase of money orders. Robert and his conspirators
caused more than $700,000 in losses.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Neals sentenced Robert to three years of supervised release and
ordered him to pay restitution of $675,371.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark,
under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division; special agents of the
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Jonathan Mellone in New York; and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special
Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s
sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s
Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
Topic(s):                                             Coronavirus
Component(s):       Press Release Number:
USAO - New Jersey   22-103

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