Gainesville man pleads guilty after fraudulently obtaining Unemployment Insurance benefits

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, dated Wednesday, December 6, 2023, announcing that Ronald House of Gainesville pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge over unemployment insurance claims filed during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, House applied online for unemployment insurance benefits using House's own identifying information in states including California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania, and also used the identifying information of others in several states, including Georgia and Michigan. The release describes the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and the $600 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefit. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones is scheduled for March 8, 2024.

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Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Gainesville man pleads guilty after
fraudulently obtaining
Unemployment Insurance benefits
in more than 15 states
Wednesday, December 6, 2023


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

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Ronald House, who applied for unemployment insurance in his name
and the names of others in multiple states during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,
has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge.

“House ran a multi-state scam stealing benefits allotted for those in need,” said U.S.
Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “COVID-19 pandemic funds provided vital aid for citizens
who qualified for them. Congress did not intend for individuals to illegally profit from
the CARES Act program. House compounded his fraudulent conduct by stealing the
identities of others to perpetrate his scheme.”

“During the COVID-19 pandemic when so many Americans desperately needed
unemployment assistance, Ronald House submitted numerous fraudulent
unemployment insurance (UI) claims to multiple state workforce agencies in his own
name, as well as in the names of his relatives, including a deceased family member. As a
result, House collected over $170,000 in fraudulent UI payments; benefits which were
intended for individuals adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” said Mathew
Broadhurst, Special-Agent- in-Charge, Southeast Region, US. Department of Labor,
Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our federal and state law
enforcement partners to safeguard unemployment benefits programs for those who
need them.”

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in
court: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act provided
emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families, and businesses
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal
program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that provided up to 39 weeks of
unemployment benefits and funding to states for administration of the program. An
individual receiving these benefits might also have received a $600 weekly benefit in
federal funds under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program if he
or she was eligible for such compensation for the week claimed.

To take advantage of the additional weekly federal benefit, House applied online for
fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits using his personal identifying information
in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New
York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington State. He also
applied for fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits using the personal identifying
information of others in several states, including Georgia and Michigan. He fraudulently
obtained more than $150,000 in benefits.

Sentencing for House, 66, of Gainesville, Georgia, is scheduled for March 8, 2024, at
10:00 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General.

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 December 6, 2023

Topic
CORONAVIRUS
Component
USAO - Georgia, Northern


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