Albany Man Arraigned on Pandemic-Related Fraud Charges

Summary

A press release published August 10, 2022 by USAO - New York, Northern, headed Albany Man Arraigned on Pandemic-Related Fraud Charges. It states that Ibrahim K. Boyd, age 32, of Albany, appeared on an indictment alleging fraudulent schemes to obtain government benefits and other funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The indictment alleges that Boyd submitted a false unemployment insurance application and obtained more than $16,000 in benefits, and made up two fake businesses to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program loan and disaster-related funding totaling in excess of $28,000. The release says the indictment, returned on July 28, 2022, alleges mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, and that Boyd was ordered released pending trial.

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ALBANY, NEW YORK – Ibrahim K. Boyd, age 32, of Albany, appeared today on an indictment alleging he engaged in fraudulent schemes to obtain government benefits and other funds intended to help out-of-work New Yorkers and struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang; Matthew Scarpino, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge, New York Region, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (USDOL-OIG).
The indictment alleges that Boyd submitted a false unemployment insurance application using the personal information of another person to the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) and obtained more than $16,000 in benefits for his personal gain. Additionally, Boyd allegedly made up two fake businesses to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program loan and U.S. Small Business Administration disaster-related funding, totaling in excess of $28,000. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Boyd was arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart and ordered released pending trial.
The indictment, returned by a grand jury on July 28, 2022, alleges mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft offenses. The mail fraud and wire fraud charges each carry maximum terms of 20 years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory term of 2 years in prison, to be imposed consecutive to any other term of imprisonment. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
The case is being investigated by the New York State Inspector General’s Office, HSI, USPIS, and USDOL-OIG, with assistance from the NYSDOL Office of Special Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Chisholm
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
.

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