Leader sent to prison in unemployment insurance fraud scam (Press Release, April 18, 2024)

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas, dated Thursday, April 18, 2024, announcing that Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Jose Luis Gonzalez to a total of 74 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered $531,161 in restitution. Gonzalez pleaded guilty March 21, 2023. According to the release, beginning in August 2008 Gonzalez created fictitious employer accounts with the Texas Workforce Commission, posed as the employer to confirm fictitious employment, and recruited others through Facebook. The release states that the scheme resulted in approximately 50 fraudulent unemployment claims totaling $531,161, and that nine others had also pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

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PRESS RELEASE



Leader sent to prison in
unemployment insurance fraud
scam
Thursday, April 18, 2024


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas

McALLEN, Texas – A 41-year-old man from Edinburg is the final man to be ordered to
prison for fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits from the Department of Labor
(DOL), announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Jose Luis Gonzalez pleaded guilty March 21, 2023.

Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered him to serve a total of 74 months
in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. He
was also ordered to pay $531,161 in restitution. At the hearing, the court heard
additional evidence and testimony that described how Gonzalez kept this fraud going
on for a decade and caused substantial loss to the Department of Labor (DOL) and
Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). The court also heard how he kept the money from
the citizens in our community who qualified for the benefits and needed those benefits.

“Gonzalez and others committed substantial fraud against the
taxpayers of Texas,” said Hamdani. “By creating fictitious
companies, forging documents and ultimately cheating the TWC,
Gonzalez kept money from people who truly needed it. Thanks to the
work of law enforcement, Gonzalez will have to trade his fake
companies for a real prison cell.”
Beginning in August 2008, Gonzalez devised a scheme in which he filed fraudulent
unemployment insurance claims with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). He
created and provided several fraudulent documents to file for unemployment benefits.
He then advertised his scheme on Facebook where he recruited and assisted others to
do the same. Several others paid Gonzalez to assist them in making fraudulent
employment benefits claims.

Specifically, Gonzalez would create a fictitious employer account with the TWC to
include an employer name, address and similar information. The address he created was
his address or an address he controlled. TWC would mail a notice to the fictitious
employer at that address, and Gonzalez would pretend to be the employer and respond
to the TWC letter confirming the fictitious employment of the applicant. This caused
TWC to generate and fund a debit card and mail it to a separate address Gonzalez or
another individual controlled.

Ultimately, the scheme resulted in approximately 50 fraudulent unemployment claims
totaling $531,161.

Nine others had also pleaded guilty and have already been sentenced.

Gonzalez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of
Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

DOL - Office of the Inspector General conducted the investigation with the assistance of
the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Sarina S. DiPiazza prosecuted the case along with
former AUSAs Steven Belt and Michael Mitchell.

Updated April 18, 2024

Topic
FINANCIAL FRAUD


Component
USAO - Texas, Southern


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