Former Social Security Employee Sentenced To 36 Months In Prison For Pandemic Fraud Scheme (Press Release)
Summary
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania, dated April 3, 2024, announcing that Takiyah Gordon Austin, formerly of Wilkes Barre, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 36 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $288,590. Austin pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. According to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Austin, a claims specialist with the Social Security Administration, filed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims for ineligible recipients in exchange for payment and filed claims using personal identifying information obtained from SSA databases. The release states that Austin defrauded the government of over $288,000.
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“Former Social Security Employee Sentenced To 36 Months In Prison For Pandemic Fraud Scheme (Press Release).”
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PRESS RELEASE
Former Social Security Employee
Sentenced To 36 Months In Prison
For Pandemic Fraud Scheme
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
announced that Takiyah Gordon Austin, age 47, formerly of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania,
was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised
release by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, for a scheme to fraudulently
obtain unemployment benefits related to COVID-19 emergency relief funds. Judge
Mannion also ordered Austin to pay restitution in the amount of $288,590.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program was created by the March 27,
2020 CARES Act, as part of the United States government’s efforts to mitigate the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public’s health and economic well-being. The
PUA program was designed to provide unemployment benefits to individuals not
eligible for regular unemployment compensation or extended unemployment benefits.
According to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Austin pleaded guilty to one count wire
fraud and one count of aggravated identify theft. From in or about May 2020 to in or
about May 2021, Austin, a claims specialist with the Social Security Administration, filed
PUA claims for ineligible recipients in exchange for payment from the
individuals. Additionally, Austin filed claims after accessing SSA databases to obtain the
personal identifying information from unsuspecting individuals and then diverted the
unemployment funds to addresses she controlled in order to use the funds for her own
personal expenses. Through the scheme, Austin defrauded the government of over
$288,000.
The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector
General, the Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General, and the United States
Postal Inspection Service. Special Assistant United States Attorney Megan Curran and
Assistant United States Attorney Alisan V. Martin prosecuted 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
Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
###
Updated April 3, 2024
Topic
CORONAVIRUS
Component
USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle
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