Metro Atlanta man charged with laundering funds from COVID-19 unemployment relief

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, dated Monday, August 14, 2023, announcing that Austin Martin Siampwizi, 46, of Atlanta was arraigned on charges of concealment money laundering, money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud. According to the release and the indictment, Siampwizi allegedly laundered money from fraudulent unemployment claims submitted to the Employment Security Department of Washington State using personal identifiable information stolen from more than 50 individuals. The wire fraud charge concerns an allegedly fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan application to the SBA. A federal grand jury indicted Siampwizi on July 25, 2023, and the release states that the indictment only contains charges.

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PRESS RELEASE



Metro Atlanta man charged with
laundering funds from COVID-19
unemployment relief and submitting
fraudulent EIDL loan application
Monday, August 14, 2023


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia

ATLANTA - Austin Martin Siampwizi has been arraigned on federal charges of
concealment money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, and wire fraud.

“Money launderers used the COVID-19 pandemic to financially benefit while millions of
Americans were suffering,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “We will continue to
prosecute individuals who defrauded this program at the expense of vulnerable citizens
in need of this critical relief.”

“An important part of the mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate
allegations of fraud related to unemployment insurance programs,” said Mathew
Broadhurst, Special Agent-in-Charge, Southeast Region, U.S. Department of Labor,
Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement
partners to aggressively investigate these types of allegations.”

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the indictment, and other information presented
in court: Austin Martin Siampwizi allegedly laundered money procured from fraudulent
unemployment claims submitted to the Employment Security Department of
Washington State (“ESD”). These claims were filed using personal identifiable
information stolen from more than 50 individuals. Additionally, Siampwizi has been
charged with wire fraud for allegedly submitting a fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster
Loan (“EIDL”) application to the SBA.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) created a
temporary federal program that provided up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits for
those unemployed because of the pandemic and included a provision to provide
temporary benefits to individuals who had exhausted their entitlement to regular
benefits or were otherwise not eligible. That temporary federal program was
administered by state employment agencies. The CARES Act also allowed the U.S. Small
Business Administration (“SBA”) to offer funding to business owners negatively affected
by the pandemic.

Austin Martin Siampwizi, 46, of Atlanta, Georgia, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate
Judge J. Christopher C. Bly. Siampwizi was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 25,
2023.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The
defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden
to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General,
the U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the
Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Klapman is 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.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office
at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-
ndga.

Updated August 14, 2023

Topic
CORONAVIRUS


Component
USAO - Georgia, Northern


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